It is a an epidemiological fact. The customer claims to be allergic
to things that are non-allergenic so you have to treat the symptoms
by whatever method available. 5% of the population is still a large
number of potential customers but not as many as those who claim to
be allergic without actually having a pathological intolerance. I
can tell you the standards used for the nickel leach test in Europe
but I doubt that passing these tests will make a difference to
customers’ perception of risk.
I was forced into retirement by an autoimmune disease combined with a
brain tumour (coincidence) and so have spent much time researching
the family of diseases that encompass what I have and 90% of people
who claim to suffer from the blanket diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome have no measurable pathogenic indicators and are thus
treated by psychiactric methods. This means that the remaining 10%
of us get perceived as mental cases when in reality we are suffering
from a slow progress of major organ failure as our T lymphocites
attack them. There are large anomalies in both race and sex in these
groups but no-one has previuosly suggested that disease or
population epidemiology is chauvinistic. If you fall into the 5% then
you do and that is that. If the customer does then the brief given
would have likely been very specific rather than as relayed in the
opening post.
Surprisely, my ears are allergic to silver ( must have been the
stress from grad school) so if I try on or put on silver earwires,
my ears get red and very itchy. However, I can wear silver
necklaces/chains, bracelets and rings just fine. I’ve had to give up
earrings, for even gold and steel feels like thin sharp wire cutting
into my ears, while the silver makes me very red and very itchy. If
any of you wear hearing aids or cochlear implants, wearing earrings
can causes a lot of “thudding, thuck, thuck” sounds, as they bang
again the aids. That’s the other reason I don’t wear earrings.
I’ve had a number of clients tell me they are allergic to nickel, so
I take pains to use palladium white gold only when it comes to white
gold. I’ve worked with nickel for years with no ill effects, so I
can handle it with no problems and use it quite a bit for my
flatware, tableware and boxes. However, the one question that
baffles me is that I’ve had clients and students tell me,yes, there
is nickel in sterling, and I tell them, legally, sterling can only
be silver with copper, so they must have had German silver, or poor
quality sterling from Mexico or elsewhere. I do know my silver does
not have any nickel, and yet, my clients are convinced there is
nickel in sterling. You can’t win. I’ve worked with nickel for well
over 20 years and know how it works, behaves and reacts. As the old
saying goes, “the customer is always right”.
If a customer bought earrings in Walmart and they irritated her
ears, would she take them back and demand a refund? I doubt it very
much. A business at least in this country (Canada) is only obligated
to do a refund or exchange if the goods were faulty in some way. Good
customer relations might lead the jeweler in another direction
though. I’d make a happy customer - tell her that she can choose
something else int he store for equal value but there is a limit of
one exchanged item – she can’t come back and demand another refund.
I knew someone who furnished her house buy buying and returning
before the bill arrived. It was a never ending round of furniture
delivery trucks. She wasn’t a friend, just an acquaintance but I
marvelled at the patience of the store owner - it was the same store
every time.
Surprisely, my ears are allergic to silver ( must have been the
stress from grad school) so if I try on or put on silver earwires,
my ears get red and very itchy.
However, the one question that baffles me is that I've had clients
and students tell me,yes, there is nickel in sterling, and I tell
them, legally, sterling can only be silver with copper, so they
must have had German silver, or poor quality sterling from Mexico
or elsewhere. I do know my silver does not have any nickel, and
yet, my clients are convinced there is nickel in sterling.
James Binnion has pointed out several times on this forum that
silver and nickle cannot be alloyed. They stay separate.
....and I tell them, legally, sterling can only be silver with
copper
That is not correct. Sterling silver or 0.925 points to howmuch pure
silver needs to be in an alloy in order to use the name sterling
silver. In other words 925 particles out of 1000 of a concisting
alloy need to be silver. The other 75 can be ANY metal in this alloy
and not only copper.
By the way, the story of how the word “sterling” was incorporated
into the name is rooted in 12th-century lore.
As payment for English cattle, an association of eastern Germans
compensated the British with silver coins dubbed “Easterlings.”
Eventually, the Easterling was widely accepted as a standard of
English currency. The name was ultimately abbreviated to “Sterling,”
which is now used to refer to the highest grade of silver metal.
If a customer bought earrings in Walmart and they irritated her
ears, would she take them back and demand a refund? I doubt it
very much. A business at least in this country (Canada) is only
obligated to do a refund or exchange if the goods were faulty in
some way.
That’s true, but Walmart policy is to refund most anything for any
(or no) reason, within a reasonable time period. It seems to work out
well for them.
I think David Keeling’s suggestion for an inlay in another alloy is a
good solution for this customer. I’m one of those people who has
severe nickel allergy (as confirmed by a patch test by my doctor).
Matter of fact, I began making my own jewelry after I became
irritated with buying earrings marked 995 silver or hypoallergenic
that turned my ears into a burning mess within minutes of putting
them on.
Nickel allergy is an interesting problem. Some people have severe
reactions while others have infrequent reactions to specific pieces
(or parts). Sometimes a reaction is helped along by weather
conditions such as humidity and heat that causes perspiration under
the piece. And many live their lives free of nickel allergy until
one day they suddenly discover their body has changed and now reacts
to metals they’ve worn for years. After living with this allergy for
several decades I’ve not yet discovered anything I can use to coat
metal that will hold up for long and I’ve tried just about
everything except clear epoxy (now that I can make my own jewelry,
why bother?). Many years ago I reacted to white gold and to the white
metal (don’t remember the alloy used) that held the diamond on my
yellow gold wedding ring. Today I don’t wear any white metals except
for sterling/fine/argentium silvers and I’m careful to buy
hypoallergenic watches (spring pins and watch stems often get me),
only use non-allergic metals at my bench, and I cover the button
rivets on my jeans with cloth medical tape.
That's true, but Walmart policy is to refund most anything for any
(or no) reason, within a reasonable time period. It seems to work
out well for them.
Walmart’s policy (and department store’s in general) lead to an
unrealistic expectation in the public’s mind, except for all of us
that have small business’s are are aware of all the other small
businesses policy of exchange only.
The actual law in the U.S. is all sales final except for defective
merchandise. I have found that a polite clear explanation and a firm
resolution works quite well to educate those that do not realize
what my responsibility is to a choice made by a customer to make a
purchase at my business, and a gentle reminder that the information
is on the sales slip, on the wall right by where sales are made, and
on the credit card receipt.
Another persons lack of awareness is not my responsibility. I can be
sympathetic and empathetic, but no cash refund…
James Binnion has pointed out several times on this forum that
silver and nickle cannot be alloyed. They stay separate.
Obiously, I mist this conversation somehow.
Silver does take some nickel but in very very small amounts. As far
as I know, we’re talking about 0.4% Ni. Ridiculous low but it’s
still something and it is doing something. Even that liitle amount of
Ni in a silver alloy is enough to give Ar a better crystalization.
Don’t shoot me, I’ve never tried it out, this is pure knowledge from
reading books. Ni to Ar takes up to 2%. Ar to Fe is egual to zero!
However, this specification is used in the helicopter industry.
Funny how things turnout well for one en are completly worthless for
another.
I've had clients and students tell me,yes, there is nickel in
sterling, and I tell them, legally, sterling can only be silver
with copper, so they must have had German silver, or poor quality
sterling from Mexico or elsewhere.
The law only specifies the silver content not the remainder so it
could literally be anything as the remaining 7.5%. Second it is
highly unlikely there is any nickel in any sterling silver alloy as
nickel and silver will not mix into an alloy. They are like oil and
water to each other if you melt them together in a crucible they
will not solidify as an alloy but as two separate metals, if you did
not disturb them as they cooled they would stratify as two separate
layers.
As for allergies to sterling it is much more likely that you and
others are allergic to the copper in the sterling not the silver. A
estimate of the percentages of the general population that have ACD
(allergic contact dermatitis) to silver is 0.13% of the population
and copper will affect 0.4% of the population. The worst offenders
are nickel at 5.8% and cobalt at 3.1% other metals that caused ACD
reactions are palladium 1.6%, chromium 1.2%, gold 0.5%, mercury 0.4%,
and titanium 0.04%. Platinum, tin and zinc caused no reaction in this
study. This data comes from a study on jewelry metal allergies
presented as a paper By Dr Andrea Basso at the Santa Fe Symposium on
Jewelry Manufacturing and Technology in 2006 titled “Jewelry and
Health Recent Updates”. Anyone interested can purchase and download
the paper at the Santa Fe Symposium website.
This suggests that it is not an allergy per se, where the body reacts
by producing histamines and all the symptoms that go with it. Nickel
sensitivity is a cumulative thing so people start off with no
symptoms and each exposure makse things progressively worse. I knew
someone who worked in a biology facility who became cumulatively
sensitised to animal fur and had to retire from that work at 25.
Silver is like water and calcium phosphate, the body doesnt produce
histamines when in contact with it but that doesnt mean that a
particular form cannot be an irritant. You wouldnt want to breathe
in bone dust or water because it will irritate the mucous membranes
and lungs but any other contact is passive or beneficial.
James Binnion has pointed out several times on this forum that
silver and nickle cannot be alloyed. They stay separate.
Just for the heck of it do a search on “nickel free silver” and see
just how often this claim is used. And they are telling the truth!
The reason your customers and mine keep assuming that somebody is
using nickel in their sterling is because so many times salesmen or
advertising writers claim that their own silver contains no nickel.
So they assume that this makes that particular silver special. Why
would you say that if nickel was not commonly used in sterling? The
answer quite simply is that salesmen say things to persuade you to
buy. The people implying that other silver may contain nickel
probably do not know or care that nobody alloys silver with nickel.
The dilemma is that if you or I get on the bandwagon and also
proactively state that our sterling is nickel free, while it may be
good for our sales and it is true, it just propagates the ignorance
that we are ranting against.
In other words 925 particles out of 1000 of a concisting [sic]
alloy need to be silver. The other 75 can be ANY metal in this
alloy and not only copper.
The proportion is .925 by weight (mass, actually). That is why a
50/50 mix of gold and silver atoms will yield 18 K gold alloy
Metal allergies are quite real and often oddly unique to
individuals. It may be that the perception, or even the data,
indicates that women are more likely to experience types of contact
dermatitis from metals because in most cultures we are more likely
to wear more jewelry more often (as well as use more skin care
products that also contain possible allergens). I’ve known
collectors, students, and family members who react even to fine
silver and 22k gold on certain parts of their bodies. People even
react differently to the same metals in different climates.
I seem to recall a long thread on Orchid not too long ago about the
banning of nickel in jewelry in Europe because so many people react
to it, but I haven’t found the thread in the archives. Sorry, if I
missed it in the this thread.
Julie, did anyone test the ring in question to see if it did contain
nickel? If so, it seems that the caster might be responsible since
they claim the white gold was nickel free.
Unfortunately, the use of nickel on people has not been limited to
jewelry. In the 80s and early 90s it was common for some dentists to
cheap out on the metal base of porcelain crowns and use alloys that
contained nickel. The result? A kind of contact dermatitis and
sensitivity of the gums.
My skin also reacts quite severely within a few minutes of being
directly exposed to nickel and certain other metals. I once had
eyeglasses that were supposed to be titanium but turned out to be
something else entirely. I developed a strange rash on my cheek
below my eye that no dermatologist could cure or explain. It turned
out that whatever coating was on the eyeglass frames had worn off,
and my cheek touched the frames when I smiled, causing the reaction.
The cure was new eyeglasses.
18k yellow gold also turns my ears and jaw where earrings touch it a
hideous shade of gray/green. (How’s that for weird?) Silver leaves a
gray ghost image on my neck in a super dry climate. A canary in a
coal mine? You bet I am, but I’m also hardly the “hysterical” 19th
century type, despite my name. Allergies are real, increasingly
common, and a drag for anyone who has to deal with them.
Not sure what you mean by Ar as that is argon. but if you mean Ag
for silver then you need to look at the phase diagram for Ag-Ni there
is no room temperature solubility of Ni in Ag. Up near the
solidification point of silver you can get a few tenths percent of Ni
in Ag but the only reason for putting Ni in Ag would be to play some
games with grain size. This would not be a way to make a cheap alloy
which is the reason why folks suggest someone putting nickel in the
silver alloy. There is not going to be a “cheap” sterling alloy with
Ni in it.
Allergies are real, increasingly