Hi all this is weird. Had a customer bring me one of my mobius
rings.
That had bad tarnish. Ring was sterling. The weird thing was the
tarnish was only on the edges of the band around the finger section.
Not the outside nor the inside. Quick wipe with a polishing cloth and
it was fine.
Why did it only tarnish on the edges? I would have thought the
inside of the band should have tarnished as well. And perhaps the
outside. So methinks I have no idea what happened.
Any ideas much appreciated. Never seen such site specific tarnish in
25 years.
Why did it only tarnish on the edges? I would have thought the
inside of the band should have tarnished as well. And perhaps the
outside. So methinks I have no idea what happened.
You said merely a quick wipe with the cloth cleaned it up. So it
doesn’t take much to remove. Simple friction with the finger kept the
inside clean, and friction just from whatever, clothing, etc, kept
the outside clean. The edges, sitting to the sides, and between the
fingers yet not quite in contact with them, were protected. So the
tarnish (likely just a reaction to what’s in the air, or liquids the
finger came in contact with) built up where there was less friction
on a daily basis to keep it clean.
I would guess that the interior and exterior of the ring were in
contact with her fingers. The continual brushing of skin against the
silver maybe kept those areas cleaner while the edges were in less
contact. Hmmm…
I don’t think the problem will happen again as I told her to take
the ring off when dealing with chemicals and food.
And Yuk! Don’t you hate those TV chefs who cook with their jewellery
on.
“Now just use your hands to mix the ingredients through the mince.”
Hello food poisoning, how disgusting. Some of the crud I seen when I
clean jewellery makes me want to puke. And I show the customer how
dirty they have got their jewellery and say why it costs so much to
clean it.