QuestionWe had a yellow gold earring repaired to replace a post. The earring was returned as white gold. Jeweler explained the earring turned black after soldering the new post; and they polished the earring leaving it white. Could the jeweler polish the earring back to the yellow gold finished if they had used the proper solder and polish?
AnswerGerry, I would believe the jeweler is responsible to return to you a gold colored earring because that is what was brought in for repair or make it up to you in some other way. Jewelers do sometimes run into surprises when doing repairs but are still responsible to have warned you up front as best possible if any difficulty was anticipated. In the case of a suspicious item which might prove more difficult to repair than suspected, meaning the price may be much higher than expected, it is sometimes possible to anticipate extra work being needed and alert the customer to that.
Some items should not be attempted for repair in the first place, that is, if the jeweler recognizes what the items are and knows trouble is ahead. This is one reason it is very important that the jeweler look for proper markings on the item to show it is actually gold or some other precious metal. If suspicious, the metal should be tested prior to repair being attempted. I believe the jeweler was quite surprised when the earring changed.
However, even with the most conscientious examination of a piece of jewelry, the jeweler may still run into something which is not what it appears to be and the item is drastically changed in the repair operation. This can happen to the best jeweler. Generally, the jeweler still should somehow compensate the customer and absorb the "mistake" as part of the cost of doing business.
YELLOW TO WHITE
You had a yellow earring and needed the post replaced. The earring came back white. Humm, what could have caused that? I can say for certainty the earring was not yellow through and through in the first place. Why is that? Heat from soldering may cause tarnish on the metal but when cleaned and polished, the metal is still the same as from the beginning.
I believe your earring had a thin plated layer of gold and was not gold through and through. This means the earring was costume jewelry or was possibly vermeil. Vermeil is sterling silver with a thin gold plate outer surface. The marks for sterling are "sterling" or 925. The post may have been karat gold while the earring was not. If vermeil is heated, the gold vanishes almost immediately and when polished the original silver (a white metal) is there. With some costume jewelry items, the surface has a coating similar to lacquer and that will burn and blacken when heated. If the metal underneath the gold plated layer is white, when cleaned and polished the earring will be white.
Look for marks for sterling silver on the earring. If not there, do you know if the earring was costume jewelry and not solid karat gold? Of so, there is the answer. Not being a jeweler, you are not expected to know a costume or vermeil item should not be soldered as would gold jewelry.
No special form of solder and polishing will restore a white earring to a gold color. White is white is white. The yellow must have been a surface layer only. Even if the earring should prove to be white gold and not silver or costume jewelry metal, polishing will not return the yellow.
The only way to make the earring yellow again is to gold plate it. If a pair, both earrings should be plated to assure the yellow matches on both.
We generally will not accept costume jewelry to repair. In some cases there is room enough to cement a post to the earring back and we will do that. No polishing is done on costume items since the surfaces can be damaged and the normal jeweler has no way to restore the original look.
Gerry, I do hope this answers your question and that the jeweler will do something to make the situation right on your part.
God Bless and Peace to All. Thomas.
