QuestionHi! I mistakenly placed my gold rings in a silver cleaner. They are all 10k yellow gold or higher with diamond stones. Upon realizing my mistake, I immediately removed them, but they all had a white film coating. A detergent and water solution and a soft brush would not remove it. Have I ruined my rings or can they be repaired by cleaning with ammonia or some other way? If I put them in ammonia will there be a chemical reaction which further damages the rings? Thanks for your help!
AnswerFirst of all, you have not ruined your jewelry, only given it an undesired surface deposit.
Kay, we sometimes have jewelry brought into out shop from customers who have done exactly what you did. Mostly, this was done in complete innocence, believing if the solution would clean silver it will do ok on gold. To some extent that is true, removing darker tarnished areas of gold items. However, the time in the solution should not exceed 15 seconds or so and all should be rinsed well immediately thereafter. The silver cleaner I reference is the kind made to "dip silver" to remove tarnish. Frankly, I don't even like this stuff for silver. The tarnish is removed but the surface is not shiny but grayish white, a remnant of silver with tarnish oxides removed.
What to do? Ammonia may or may not help. If you can stand the ammonia smell for a few moments, using gloves on your hands brush a small amount of household ammonia(not stronger sorts) on a small section of one of the jewelry items. This should tell you quickly if the ammonia will help remove the white deposits. I do not believe there will be further damage from the ammonia. Household ammonia with mild dish detergent is an excellent cleaner for gold jewelry and may be used for all but soft or porous gemstones like turquoise, pearls, lapis, coral, etc. For jewelry with those gems, use mild dish detergent alone and rinse well.
To remove the silvery gray deposits, I see two options, assuming the ammonia does not help (and it very well may have no affect at all). First, you need a good polishing cloth, not the sort with a rouge side and a plain side since those are not really effective and are messy. You need one of the newer chemically treated polishing cloths. One example is the "Sunshine" cloth from RioGrande. Crafts stores and jewelers use RioGrande as a supplier and should be able to get the cloths for you if not in stock. Some stores will carry the treated cloths in stock, even if not the same brandname. You wipe away the discoloration, using he cloth as is. The cloth is used until it no longer works and is thrown away. Even when black from tarnish residue, these cloths work a long time to shine jewelry quite well.
The other option is to take the items to a jeweler and have all buffed professionally. This will not be a free service. Buffing by a jeweler should remove all the residue and bring your jewelry to a close to new look.
Please let me know if you need more info. You can use the "follow-up" option for that if needed. Best wishes!
God Bless and Peace. Thomas. July 21,2007 11:28AM
