Tarnished earrings

MM1970

Hi. At Christmas I bought a pair of gold earrings as a present from a   large, online jeweller.  My wife wore them once and then put them back in the box. Last week she went to wear them again but they were terribly tarnished. I returned them by mail but the seller said that they were tarnished due to perfume and simply offered to polish them for an extra £30. Have I any rights here to reclaim? We have many pieces of 9 carat gold jewellery and this has never happened before. Many thanks in advance.

Aylesbury_Duck

Only if you can establish they are faulty.   The retailer must have mentioned the perfume for a reason.  How were they stored?  Worn then put away, or worn, cleaned and then put away?

MM1970

Thanks for replying Aylesbury_Duck. Establishing they are faulty is going to be very difficult as to look at when received them they looked fine. My argument would be they shouldn’t have degraded at this rate. Didn’t clean them as only used once. 

Sandtree

MM1970 said:
Didn’t clean them as only used once. 

Wearing and using jewelry is what keeps it looking clean as the handling rubs away the surface tarnishing. My cufflinks are normally bright and shiny and never cleaned but after a year in their box with not going into the office they are almost black.

9ct gold is 37.5% gold and 62.5% other metals. The gold itself is fairly resistant to tarnishing but the other metals its been cut with arent necessarily. In most cases it will be circa 44% silver and that is more prone to tarnish but the exact blend varies. Plus some places will coat jewelry to try and prevent/slow tarnishing. 

Its similar with things like perfume and hairspray, the gold itself is fairly resistant but the because they are more silver than they are gold these things will greatly accelerate tarnishing.

MM1970

Thanks Sandtree. Good point about being left in a box - I have a brooch that only comes out on Remembrance Day which, now I think about it, has dulled somewhat. Didn’t realise there was only 37.5% gold in 9 carat, so it’s the other metals that cause tarnish. I guess over time that’s the case, but still surprised at acceleration. However, got email from Jewellers today saying they WILL refund me, so happy ending! Thanks for the help folks. 👍🏻

theonlywayisup

MM1970 said:

Thanks Sandtree. Good point about being left in a box - I have a brooch that only comes out on Remembrance Day which, now I think about it, has dulled somewhat. Didn’t realise there was only 37.5% gold in 9 carat, so it’s the other metals that cause tarnish. I guess over time that’s the case, but still surprised at acceleration. However, got email from Jewellers today saying they WILL refund me, so happy ending! Thanks for the help folks. 👍🏻

That's a good result and timely to the thread. 

Sandtree

MM1970 said:

Didn’t realise there was only 37.5% gold in 9 carat, so it’s the other metals that cause tarnish

Carat	Percent
9ct	37.5%
14ct	58.5%
18ct	75%
22ct	91.6%
24ct	99.9%

The metal is actually an alloy and therefore the science is more complex than if it were patches of one metal and patches of others but yes.... because 9ct gold is more silver than it is gold its much more prone to tarnishing. 

There are some exceptions though, white gold in the UK is usually plated rhodium as the alloy itself is actually a grey sort of colour and whilst the 9ct white gold underneath would tarnish rhodium is actually very resistant and so prevents tarnish until its worn away.

Pollycat

Sandtree said:

MM1970 said:

Didn’t realise there was only 37.5% gold in 9 carat, so it’s the other metals that cause tarnish

Carat	Percent
9ct	37.5%
14ct	58.5%
18ct	75%
22ct	91.6%
24ct	99.9%

The metal is actually an alloy and therefore the science is more complex than if it were patches of one metal and patches of others but yes.... because 9ct gold is more silver than it is gold its much more prone to tarnishing. 

There are some exceptions though, white gold in the UK is usually plated rhodium as the alloy itself is actually a grey sort of colour and whilst the 9ct white gold underneath would tarnish rhodium is actually very resistant and so prevents tarnish until its worn away.

And that's why you will sometimes see 18 carat gold bought abroad marked '750'.

I have some gold items bought from Turkey marked '585', they are 14 carat.

Not many countries apart from the UK have 9 carat gold but I have some items also marked '375'.

And on a related subject, foreign silver is often marked '925' which means it is 925 parts silver out of 1000 parts.

Or 92.5% pure silver, 7.5% alloy.

Some countries have 950 silver which is 95% pure silver.

Sandtree

Pollycat said:

Some countries have 950 silver which is 95% pure silver.

The UK has 958 which is Britannia Silver and 999 which is Fine Silver. As they have less copper than Stirling Silver they are much softer so uses are more limited. 

MM1970

Probably best going for 18 carat in future....there goes any chance of early retirement!

Pollycat

MM1970 said:

Probably best going for 18 carat in future....there goes any chance of early retirement!

I've got some 9 carat gold earrings that have been stored in a jewellery box for many years (I tend to wear silver more nowadays) and I've just had a look at them and they are not tarnished.

If I wore them, I'd probably give them a quick polish with a soft cloth but that's all.

Ditto for some 9 carat gold cufflinks that the OH hasn't worn since he retired almost 15 years ago and they are untarnished too.