Silver, plated, fake, alloy, or lead, arsenic and downright dangerous? Silver plating., post 332

 

The key ring which needed cleaning. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 I found a charm key ring which had turned black. The charm was heavy. Too heavy for a charm bracelet. Maybe a pendant? Was it silver? I decided to rub it and see if it was silver and could be restored. 

What could I do with it? Paint? Paint could be toxic. White lead paint? No. how about clear varnish? It would still be black. First rub it and see it it turned silver. 

How long would it take? How could I get into the grooves?

I started investigating restoring silver. It seemed that I needed white vinegar and baking power, not baking soda. 

Meanwhile, I rubbed away. With little result. 

What was the metal made of? How much silver? What else?

I found a website of a person in a company which makes stainless steel jewellery.

I have not previously been enamoured by stainless steel jewellery. I thought it was a gimmick. A new-fangled idea. Worthless.

All things are relative. The writer from the company producing the stainless steel jewellery was pointing out that it saved you from the risk of buying other metals which could be dangerous. 

The writer claimed that the cheap items not only contained zero silver, not tiny amounts of silver, but no silver. Worse still, they could contain lead, even arsenic.

But what of the old so called Tibetan or other hill tribe jewellery. How can you tell what it is? 

Firstly, how could I tell if my item was silver, solid or partial. (It was tiny. Surely an item that size, especially if plated, does not need a large mount of silver?)

The tests for silver included seeing if it is magnetic.

I happened to have around my neck a necklace which fastens with to magnets on the end. How safe is that!

I used that to test. Sure enough, the teeny figurine was not magnetic, but the base metal rings attached were strongly magnetic and jumped towards the necklace ends. 

I have no expertise. I am just starting out on researching. But I thought you would like to know what to look out for, and to take researching your jewellery seriously.

I left it overnight in water, with a little washing up liquid (which the Americans call dish soap) and some bottled lemon juice.

It is much better than it was. Clearly not silver.

The cleaned key ring, after cleaning. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I have learned a lot about silver. And about cleaning jewellery. The little figure is a mystery. What is he? A drummer, with a cymbal on the drum. He is short legged and earing a hat, with a big hooked nose. Rather ugly. Why?

Plating Prices

I looked for drummer key rings online, but there is nothing like it. I found drumsand humorous key rings with the engraved words, I destroy silence.

I then checked for silver plating and found both New York and London UK companiesk, which can do plating of gold, silver, for jewellery, including rings, brooches, all sorts of jewelley. Plus jugs, trays and even bathroom fittings such as taps in chrome and other metals. From prices as low as five pounds, but they have aminimum charge of thirty in the UK, so you might as well send them several items. 

Useful Websites

https://thegoldplatingcompany.co.uk/prices/

https://www.marthastewart.com/1541729/how-tell-silver-is-real

https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/index/silver/types-of-silver/

https://blackberrydesignsjewelry.com/blogs/handmade-jewelry/dangers-of-tibetan-silver-in-jewelry#:~:text=An%20X%2Dray%20fluorescence%20analysis,lead%2C%20which%20cause%20health%20issues.

Wikipedia, unusually, only cites one source on Tibetan silver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_silver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_standards

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