Tips From the Badali Jewelry Jewelers - Tarnish Happens

It's true, all forms of Silver (including Sterling Silver), Copper, Bronze and even Gold, all tarnish with time and exposure. But what exactly is tarnish? Tarnish is a a thin layer that forms over the surface of metals as their outermost layers undergo a chemical reaction. These reactions are typically due to time, humidity and chemical exposure. To get a better understanding about tarnish, lets look at each metal one at a time.

Silver - Remember how mom and grandma had to polish the good silver every Thanksgiving because in the year it had set in its box it became discolored? It's the same thing with silver jewelry. Silver tarnish can look gold, yellow, brown, black or even green in color. Silver is quite resistant to corrosion, but is tarnished by materials containing sulfur, such as eggs, mustard, rubber and air. The more humid the air the more quickly tarnish will form. Silver tarnish contains only black Ag₂S, since silver resists oxidation and does not form a carbonate.


An example of tarnish on Silver.

Copper/Bronze - Copper and Bronze can either form tarnish or patina on its surface with time and exposure to the air. The CO₂ in moist air creates a layer of CuCO₃·Cu(OH)₂, a basic copper carbonate called verdigris of a greenish color, called a patina, considered to be attractive. Otherwise, as in most copper and bronze used in jewelry as well as household goods, oxygen and sulfur make a film of black CuO or CuS tarnish. This happens very slowly, and the copper or bronze is not corroded.


An example of Copper tarnish and bright Copper finish.

Gold - It is rarer to see tarnish on gold, because it is naturally resistant to tarnish, but tarnish on alloyed golds does happen. Tarnish on gold usually looks brown or black. Typically tarnish on alloyed gold forms due to highly acidic perspiration, lotions, perfumes or other beauty products building up on the jewelry. The amount of alloy in a piece of gold also effect how reactive it will be. Gold is a relatively soft metal and needs to be alloyed in order to be used in jewelry. The higher the karat of gold, the lower the amount of alloy in the piece. People who have allergic reactions to gold typically need to wear a higher karat. Typically the highest karat gold offered in jewelry is 18k or 22k gold. Any higher then that and the pieces is far to soft for daily wear. It should also be stated that the higher the karat of gold, the softer the metal is.


An example of a tarnish on a piece of Gold jewelry.

So lets look at the most common reasons for tarnish, keep in mind tarnish is a natural occurrence. Temperature, the warmer a piece gets the quicker the reaction occurs. When you perspire, fats and fatty acids released in the perspiration can cause tarnish and sometime an allergic reaction called the green finger effect (for silver and gold). This problem can be worse in seacoast areas, where chlorides combine with the perspiration to form a corrosive element that discolors skin. Lotions, perfumes, body mists, makeup and other beauty products can cause your jewelry to discolor. Chemicals like chlorine are killers for jewelry. Not only will the chlorine discolor your jewelry, it will corrode or eat away at your jewelry. We always recommend removing any jewelry on when you go swimming or hot tubing. Even smog fumes will gradually tarnish jewelry and its effect is evident as tarnish that rubs off on the skin. And lets not forget the biggest and most unavoidable culprit in tarnishing, time. There are traces off all the chemicals that will cause metal to tarnish in the very air we breath and over time they will slowly react and form tarnish.

Here's the good news, tarnish is not a big deal. Tarnish can be quite easily removed by using chemically treated polishing cloths or dips. We recommend using the polishing cloths as the dips tend to leave a film on jewelry and can even make them tarnish quicker. You can find jewelry polishing cloths at any jewelry counter or jewelry store. Sometimes thicker grimier tarnish forms on jewelry, this tarnish is usually caused by lotion, make up or some other substance. You typically can remove most of this tarnish by hand with a cloth, but if its particularly stubborn just take it to a jewelry and let them clean it for you. The jeweler will most likely place the piece of jewelry in an ultrasonic cleaner which will pulverize any grime that has formed on your jewelry. After the bath the ring will typically be rinsed off using a steam cleaner, removing any trace of cleaning compounds.

Here are a few tips to help avoid advancing the tarnish of your jewelry. Keep your jewelry out of humid places, like in your bathroom. Keep your jewelry somewhere cooler, remember temperature quickens the tarnish process. Take your jewelry off (but take a care where you put it) whenever you apply lotions, perfumes or other beauty productions, this keeps the build up of these materials to a minimum. Never wear your jewelry swimming or hot tubing. Just remember, chlorine is bad, bad, bad for your jewelry, especially gold. If you plan on putting your jewelry away for awhile it never hurts to store it in a small plastic or air tight bag. This will help limit the amount of air that your jewelry is exposed to.

We hope this information has proven useful. As always, please feel free to contact us if you should ever have any questions.