Cleaning silver.

jenniewb

I think I need some help as I have done something stupid...

I have a ring which has sentimental value. It needed to be cleaned so I left it in some silver dip...and forgot about it!!
3 hours later I pulled it from the dip and it is now a dull matt silver, no shine left!

Although pretty in a way I want the shine back! Does anyone know anything about silver- have I ruined the ring? is there anything I can do? Normally when I do this (and leave it no longer then 20 mins) it comes out shiny and there is no problem. I really don't want to have ruined this ring out of carelessness!

Apollonia

Take it to a jeweller for a professional opinion. I'm guessing that it can be either polished or re-plated (depends on the original finish of the ring).

I found this similar problem:

Q - I left a silver spoon in silver dip for too long and now have a tide mark across it. The spoon was only 50% immersed. What can be done to remove this staining?
A - You will have to take the spoon to a jewellers who can send it off to a workshop to get it professionally cleaned and polished. The workshop will use jewellers rouge which is a mild abrasive that will take off the 'tide mark' and will buff up the silver surface. You will need to get an estimate beforehand as it will depend on how ornate the spoon is and how much damage the dip has caused.

http://www.argenteus.co.uk/questions-answers.htm#Discolouration

jenniewb

Thanks! Was sort of thinking this would be the case (expensive!), wanted to fix it myself so may go into Hatton Gardens to see if they have any products to fix this!