Silver tarnished jewelry is gold!

[Beachkid23]

I bought some jewelry today at a thrift store. I was pretty sure it was thrilling silver. Very tarnished couldn't see a marking on it what so ever. But they were dollar pair and I thought you know what for that will take them. I brought them home and acid tested them on the stone with 18 K And the Mark didn't stay. Started to polish one and it was gold colored.. Huh? Does gold tarnish? Guess so, under the loop, They are both Marked and signed 585 on the back of the stud. Even the cross that I bought there was tarnished too. So I'm going to go back and check their case again tomorrow and see if there's anything else.











The larger earrings with amethyst I started to polish already. But my jeweler has a steam cleaner so I'm not to mess with that anymore. Stones included 14.4 grams of 14k and 2.1 grams of 10k. $2.50 spent. I had no idea gold tarnished. I believe I read on Google that if a chemical gets on it it will change colors. The cross is cool though because when you look through the center of it you can see a picture of Jesus on the inside. Hope the tarnished gold is a helpful hint to others for finding more!

 

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[Beachkid23]

Here is a little better picture

 

[Lost&Found]

The amethyst has a nice deep purple color. You might want to ask a jeweler if they are Russian Amethyst.

Antique Rings for sale | Russian Siberian Amethyst Ring, 1904-1908 | Russian Jewelry

 

[Beachkid23]

The amethyst has a nice deep purple color. You might want to ask a jeweler if they are Russian Amethyst.

Antique Rings for sale | Russian Siberian Amethyst Ring, 1904-1908 | Russian Jewelry

There is a makers mark on it. It's Gg. Large and small letters. The pearl ones I can't tell to save my life! I tried finding it but gave up for the night.

 

[Beachkid23]

 

[Beachkid23]

They look nice all cleaned!

 

[insontis]

Wow that's an awesome find! I haven't found anything near that heavy (and genuine gold) yet! Picked up some 14k pearl studs with 14k backs the other day, but haven't come anywhere near that close in weight!

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Sometimes lower Karat gold tarnishes. Its not the gold that is tarnishing, its the other metals in the alloy that is tarnishing.... Hope that helps !!
Good find, good thinking on your feet !!

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[Beachkid23]

Sometimes lower Karat gold tarnishes. Its not the gold that is tarnishing, its the other metals in the alloy that is tarnishing.... Hope that helps !!
Good find, good thinking on your feet !!

Keep @ it and HH !!

Our jeweler said that well water will tarnish it also. They have sold a lot and he tells everyone who buys that if they have well water that the gold will become discolored due to the wonderful florida stink water.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

I don't doubt that at all... I have well water here and it will destroy coins if you wash them in the water. Dug coins and not dug coins.

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[diggummup]

Our jeweler said that well water will tarnish it also. They have sold a lot and he tells everyone who buys that if they have well water that the gold will become discolored due to the wonderful florida stink water.

I remember good old stinky (sulfur) well water when I lived in Melrose, outside of Gainesville about 25 years ago. Down here it leaves rust stains on anything it touches, no stink though, lol.

 

[inspectorgadget]

Beachkid... I wish I could find the before & after pix of a large gold chain & cross I found in an older black vinyl bag under a cars backseat that had been sitting in a garage for 15 years minimum. It was almost totally black & looked like blackened or burnt copper but it felt unmistakeably like gold & was marked 14K Italy on the chain & 14K & 585 on the cross. Both the cross & chain had the same exact tarnish but were obviously from different makers thus the tarnish was from the conditions it had seen or been in all these years. Not from the metals used as gold additives or at least not solely from the metal additives.

Cleaning it any normal way would not remove this tarnish, no amount of soaking or scrubbing touched it. What did finally work was some mothers aluminum polish & my dremel! I knew it was gold even tho my eyes said no, (I know the feel of gold darn it, especially large heavy gold like these pieces were).

After I found it but before I cleaned it I took some 800 grit (I think) sand paper to the side of the clasp & walla it was bright shinny gold underneath that crud! Once I used the aluminum polish & dremel they both looked amazing & I only lost like .02 or .03 grams out of like 48ish total grams.

Sure wish I could locate those pix!

 

[MRBeyer]

Beachkid, pick up a cheap espresso machine at a yard sale for a couple bucks. You can use the steamer for steam cleaning jewelry, tools, I even use it to degrease bearings. I have one in the garage for that. One in the office for jewelry, and one in the kitchen for the caffeine.

 

[inspectorgadget]

Beachkid, pick up a cheap espresso machine at a yard sale for a couple bucks. You can use the steamer for steam cleaning jewelry, tools, I even use it to degrease bearings. I have one in the garage for that. One in the office for jewelry, and one in the kitchen for the caffeine.

Steam cleaning sure wouldn't work on my piece! If it is bad enough polish is all that will work. I tried everything for several weeks before resorting to a polish & my Dremel.

 

[Flex68]

The pearl ones I can't tell to save my life! I tried finding it but gave up for the night.

Pick you up a loupe.... an inexpensive little 10x loupe can be a great tool out in the field!

 

[tamaco]

those are great finds!!! nice!