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Thread: Brown spots on jewellery thats been left in box too long??

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Posts
    28

    Default Brown spots on jewellery thats been left in box too long??

    Hi! Was wondering if anyone could help..

    I make real gold plated sterling silver pendant necklaces. I had one customer email me a few weeks ago saying they had been on holiday for a few weeks and just got back to their package and when they opened the box the pendant had brown spots on it. They sent me a photo and it didn't look like rust or anything it looked more like a chemical reaction or something like that.

    Now today I just got a package sent back to me as it was undelivered/unclaimed and that necklace also had the brown spots on it. I posted that last month so its been sitting in the box for a while since it was sent overseas then sent back to me as it couldn't be delivered.

    I have made lots of necklaces and I have never had this issue other than these two times - and the two things they both had in common was they were both left in the box for a long period of time. I package all my necklaces in a jewellery box with a velvet insert.

    I wiped the pendant with a polishing cloth and they came off straight away so I'm wondering if anyone has any idea what this could be? And how I can prevent this happening?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Scotland
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    3,392

    Default

    If both packages had sat for a while you have to think that it’s something in the packaging materials if it came off as easily. You don’t say how they were packaged, maybe fumes from tape or glue

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    South Australia
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    1,844

    Default

    Could be a a form of mould

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    West Midlands
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    1,533

    Default

    A photo of the problem would be useful.
    Jules

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    429

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    Carat of gold plating? thickness of the plating? silver tarnish coming through? probably reaction to the packaging, I know the dies used in foam inserts causes tarnish, and glue used in boxes causes a reaction as well.
    Poor old Les

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Central London
    Posts
    8,845

    Default

    In a review of the answers above:
    Have you changed your packaging? It should all be acid free and safe for jewellery.

    Have you had a new batch of plated silver? Manufacurers or platers are always looking for ways to maximise profits, so they might be using (even slightly) thinner plating. Plating is porous, and more so the thinner it gets, so it might be showing tarnish from the underlying silver.

    This can be easily proved, by dropping on some silver dip solution, without applying any friction. Gold plating will not tarnish, but tarnish from silver will disappear instantly, but not mould. Dennis.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Manchester UK
    Posts
    937

    Default

    maybe get 2 of the same piece , one in a ziplock bag and the other in the packaging you use and put them in a dark place for a month and see if that isolates the problem.

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