Silver plating gold in citric pickle

Belle_Barer 2013-03-27 03:51:34 UTC #1

I left a piece of mixed metal jewelry (18k and.925) in the pickle for
a day and the gold was plated silver. Is this normal? I use citric
pickle and only copper tongs so I am surprised since I have never
seen this before. Does anyone know why this happened? It was an "old"
mix of pickle, as in, it desperately needed to be refreshed!

Thanks, Brooke
bellebrooke.net

jbin1 2013-03-28 03:21:24 UTC #2

Electrolysis, by placing gold and silver in contact with each other
in the pickle you create a battery. The silver dissolves into the
solution as silver ions, those silver ions are then electroplated
out onto the gold surface.

James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts