Ughh I am so stupid!

[natascha]

Major face palm moment just occurred.

I found a nice antique three stone, with three OMC set in silver while the rest of the ring was 18kt gold. It was completely filthy and the silver was completely oxidized and even parts of the gold was oxidized.

I brought it home and started to clean it gently since I was unsure If I wanted to keep it oxidized or not. This morning I had a major doffus moment and dunked the ring with my other stuff in a cleaning solution!

30 seconds later when I toke everything out all oxide was gone and I want to kick myself . Also the alloy used for the shank is much yellower than I prefer. I want the oxide back!

Anyone that wants to commiserate with me, tell your own doffus moments or have any tips?

 

[Loves Vintage]

Nothing to share here, but perhaps you want to share photos of this lovely antique ring!?

 

[yssie]

Wow. What cleaning solution are you using? I want to get some and give our flatware a bath!

Ditto - photos! Oh, and to get the oxide back, I've found that hoping it won't tarnish works wonders

 

[kelpie]

Commiseration here...emerald in ultrasonic=major faceplam.

 

[minmin001]

Commiseration here...emerald in ultrasonic=major faceplam.

I read about that when you posted it and that's right after I put my emerald ring in the ultrasonic too... thank god it made it through...

 

[natascha]

Here is a photo of it in its nasty state (it had so much gunk underneath that you could not see the stones properly, the stamps were illegible and clarity was a question mark). It was sold in a lot with two other rings from the 40s and 50s which were not diamonds.

I really need to learn how to take photos myself. I try to use the flower button but somehow I only get it to focus if there is a lot of natural light. I find it really strange that I can't get it to focus with normal light bulbs. Of course finding sunlight in Sweden in December is a once a week thing for about two secounds

I have several new things I want to take photos of and post. This ring, my OEC bezel studs and a pin with a 0,60ct OEC with what is probably a synthetic sapphire.

 

[natascha]

Nothing to share here, but perhaps you want to share photos of this lovely antique ring!?

I promise I will try to take some photos. I am a complete tecktard and can't for the life of me take good photos.

Wow. What cleaning solution are you using? I want to get some and give our flatware a bath!

Ditto - photos! Oh, and to get the oxide back, I've found that hoping it won't tarnish works wonders

Well if everyone can hope that it won't tarnish again .

I use something from a German company called Sambol. It contains non-ionic surfactant, some kind of acid, alcohol, etc. It works really really well although it does dry your skin a bit where you handle it with bare skin, but no reactions and I have really sensitive skin. I seriously thought I would have to take the ring in to be cleaned professionally but 30 sec in that solution and everything is gone .

Commiseration here...emerald in ultrasonic=major faceplam.

Oh I feel your pain. Usch can't stop thinking about that poor emerald. I wish they would not be so fragile since they are so beautiful. Or the nice ones are, I have one that is pretty ugly. I would let that one take the ultrasonic destiny instead of yours in a heartbeat .

Commiseration here...emerald in ultrasonic=major faceplam.

I read about that when you posted it and that's right after I put my emerald ring in the ultrasonic too... thank god it made it through...

Phew, that lucky. Maybe we should have a thread of all the hand palm moments so that others earn from our mistakes.

 

[pregcurious]

You can speed up tarnishing my exposing your ring to sulfur. Here's a little experiment you can do:
http://ten.com.au/images/Tarnishing_Silver_Experiment.pdf

 

[HopeDream]

To Tarnish:

Boiled egg yolk in a ziplock bag with your ring overnight. or berhaps a little longer:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5159739_tarnish-age-silver-necklace.html

Best of luck!

 

[pregcurious]

Can you let us know what method you tried and how fast it worked?