Black Marks on White Gold?

[LegacyGirl]

I picked my ring up yesterday and when I brought it home I noticed there were black marks on the gold part of the ring. Some was on the outer edge (its a halo), there was some on the underside, and some on the prongs. I thought it was polishing compound and I called my jeweler to see what she wanted me to do. She told me to clean it with a toothbrush and dish soap/ammonia mix. Well its not coming off. Any suggestions? I can always bring it back to her but she is so far away and I don''t want to leave it unless I have to. Is there anything else this might be? Any better way to try to clean it off?

Thanks!

 

[strmrdr]

could be a few different things, take it in.

 

[LegacyGirl]

Like what?

 

[strmrdr]

fire scale
borax coating that wasn''t removed
polishing compound
contaminated plating and likely a few other things.

Does it smear when rubbed with the toothbrush?
polishing compound will usually smear...

 

[LegacyGirl]

No it doesn''t smear. I''m glad you mentioned fire scale because that''s what it looks like to me. What does she have to do to remove this?

 

[LegacyGirl]

That or some type of scortch marks....

If it doesn''t smear could it be possible it is still polishing compound? I called her and she thinks that is it. She''s going to repolish it.


Thanks for all your help

 

[niceice]

It''s difficult to determine what the black marks may be without actually seeing the ring. I would bring the ring back to the jeweler even though it is a bit of a drive, it might be as simple as having the ring polished out properly.

 

[tberube]

Those spots show up on mine, too, when it''s dirty. I have a pave halo. I took it in to the jeweler and he looked at the "black" spots under a microscope and told me that the spots were actually yellowish gold solder that shows up when it''s dirty because the solder is probably a lower karat metal and tarnishes sooner due to the higher percentage of alloys.

Dunno if it''s the same case with you, but that''s what happened with me. Whenever I take it in to be cleaned really well by the jeweler, the spots go away and don''t come back for a while.

 

[tberube]

what is fire scale?

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 3/5/2008 12:50:30 PM
Author: tberube
what is fire scale?

carbon scale left on the metal from the torch during the soldering process.

 

[DiamondGirlHH]

Could be left over polishing compound or water marks in the rhodium plating process (if it was rhodiumed)

Best bet: take it back to the jeweler, have them take care of it.

 

[LegacyGirl]

Thanks for all your help. I''m dropping it back off tonight. Turns out it was never coated and those are burn marks from too much heat. I''m going to let her keep it to fix some things I don''t like and to add some milgraining. Here''s to another 5 million years of waiting.

 

[LegacyGirl]

Alright I got a call that the ring was done. It was some sort of chemical discoloration and it took them quite some time to get it off. They also had to replate the ring. I hope they fixed everything this time because I really don''t want to have to tell them to do it again. When I get out there to get the ring I''ll update again.

Thanks again for everyone''s help.