.999 Silver - Does it tarnish

[Christopher Rake]

(previous post canceled and reposted)

I purchased a pendant about 7 months ago that was advertised as being
"99.9% (.999) Silver" - yet it hasn't tarnished or show _any_ signs
of aging.

My question is: Is this really silver? If so then why does it not
tarnish?

The pendant in quesiton is stamped ".999 silver" as well...

I asked a jeweler and he said "it depends on the silver".

So - what's the truth?

Anyhelp would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
chris

[if you see this article twice ignore the first as it was "killed"]

--
Christopher A. Rake
-------------------------------
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, GA

[Stephen Kilnisan]

99.9% silver should not tarnish. dirt and grease will darken it and it will
develop a patina from wear scratches.

hope this helps
steve
--
Stephen Kilnisan - Traders of Babylon - Fine Jewelers to the Internet and
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& 66

[Joyce Tan]

>I purchased a pendant about 7 months ago that was advertised as being
>"99.9% (.999) Silver" - yet it hasn't tarnished or show _any_ signs
>of aging.

Something I learned in Chemistry class was that pure silver is very resistant
to tarnishing, if fact, it will not tarnish from oxygen. The only way it will
tarnish is with sulfur, which it picks up from the skin. That's why clean
silver tarnishes much slower than dirty silver. I guess the only way your
pendant would tarnish is if you were holding onto it all the time. I have
sterling silver jewelry that hasn't tarnish and I have had it for years,
mostly due to the fact that I hardly wear them.

Joyce

[Ray L Elsey]

In article <3nm7ho$j...@pipe1.nyc.pipeline.com>
bab...@nyc.pipeline.com (Stephen Kilnisan) writes:

> 99.9% silver should not tarnish. dirt and grease will darken it and it will
> develop a patina from wear scratches.
>
> hope this helps
> steve

Steve,

Wouldn't you agree that the salts and moisture in the air will also start to
impart a marked color, or tarnish to silver unaided?

It's been my experience, both as a collector of 100 ounce silver bars during
the great silver rush of the eighties (Buy high, sell low) and master of
ceremonies at a fine little trade shop that pure silver will tarnish if exposed
to normal humidity.

By the way, the Rap-Net news skip was nice, it's fun to see different slant and
perspectives... Your "get wired" post was very timely as well...

Cheers,

Ray

_\|/_ "Is the guy with the flame-thrower gone yet?"

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[Christopher Rake]

>Something I learned in Chemistry class was that pure silver is very resistant
>to tarnishing, if fact, it will not tarnish from oxygen. The only way it will
>tarnish is with sulfur, which it picks up from the skin. That's why clean
>silver tarnishes much slower than dirty silver. I guess the only way your
>pendant would tarnish is if you were holding onto it all the time. I have
>sterling silver jewelry that hasn't tarnish and I have had it for years,
>mostly due to the fact that I hardly wear them.

See, this is where I get confused. People are forever polishing tarnished
silver. My pendant spends most of it's time outside my shirt, but sometimes
it's inside against the skin.

Now - the definition of "Sterling silver"... is silver which is "sterling"
99.9% pure?

-chris

(pardon my ignorance)

[Flint Smith]

If pure silver is resistant to tarnishing, what is the
point of adding 7.5% copper (?). Why not add somthing
a little more reasonable, like palladium?

Face it, polishing silver is a pain. Avoiding that would
be worth a premium price.

Flint Smith fl...@uclaue.mbi.ucla.edu

[Steve Ramsdell]

Sterling is 7.5% copper. That's the part that causes the dark
tarnish. Steve R.

[Christopher Rake]

>Sterling is 7.5% copper. That's the part that causes the dark
>tarnish. Steve R.

So why add copper?

Also, does Zinc metal react badly against skin? I may try to make something
out of zinc.

-chris

[Steve Ramsdell]

It should not tarnish. It is the copper that turns black in sterling.
Pure silver may develop a whitish film, but no dark tarnish. You
may also have rhodium plate if it looks like chrome. Hope that
helps Steve R.

[MoonRat]

In article <3nmu14$l...@mordred.gatech.edu>,

Christopher Rake <c...@comlab.gtri.gatech.edu> wrote:
>>Something I learned in Chemistry class was that pure silver is very resistant
>>to tarnishing, if fact, it will not tarnish from oxygen. The only way it will
>>tarnish is with sulfur, which it picks up from the skin. That's why clean
>>silver tarnishes much slower than dirty silver. I guess the only way your
>>pendant would tarnish is if you were holding onto it all the time. I have
>>sterling silver jewelry that hasn't tarnish and I have had it for years,
>>mostly due to the fact that I hardly wear them.
>
>See, this is where I get confused. People are forever polishing tarnished
>silver. My pendant spends most of it's time outside my shirt, but sometimes
>it's inside against the skin.
>
>Now - the definition of "Sterling silver"... is silver which is "sterling"
>99.9% pure?
>
>-chris
>
>(pardon my ignorance)
>
>
>

>--
>Christopher A. Rake
>-------------------------------
>Georgia Tech Research Institute
>Atlanta, GA

Sterling Silver is 93.5% silver.

--
*****************************************************SsS*******************
MoonRat. The Ultimate Coffee fiend!!!! | |>
"Get that blood out of my caffeine stream!" ---
E-Mail: ur...@midway.uchicago.edu

[Steve Ramsdell]

I hope someone else will help with this. Adding zinc (I think)
will cause the metal to become more brittle. Copper seems to be
very close to silver, but adds hardness. I like working in pure
silver. It is too soft for thin rings (will bend and flex).
Working in pure silver works fine for just about everything except
rings and buckles (things that take a beating). Steve R.

[Neil R. Marsh]

In article <3np83e$p...@saba.info.ucla.edu> fl...@uclaue.mbi.ucla.edu writes:

>
> If pure silver is resistant to tarnishing, what is the
> point of adding 7.5% copper (?).

Fine silver is too soft to be practical for jewelry. The copper
hardens it, substantially increasing wearability.

> Why not add somthing
> a little more reasonable, like palladium?

Probably less workable than 925/75 Ag/Cu, and certainly more
expensive. I heard of sterling using beryillium instead of copper but
I've never seen it offered anywhere for sale. Supposedly doesn't tarnish.
Even if that's so, workability would still be an issue.

When someone asks me about tarnish, I point out that enviroment
is a factor. Do you live on a country road with 20 vehicles a day
spewing exaust or a city street with 200 per hour? Guess where tarnish
is going to be the bigger problem.

Cheers!
Neil

Neil Marsh
ne...@halcyon.com

[Stuart Yeates]

Neil R. Marsh (ne...@halcyon.com) wrote:

> When someone asks me about tarnish, I point out that enviroment
>is a factor. Do you live on a country road with 20 vehicles a day
>spewing exaust or a city street with 200 per hour? Guess where tarnish
>is going to be the bigger problem.

Also the natural enviromment can be a problem - there's an area in
central New Zealand which is active geothermal. H2S is (relatively)
abundant in the atmosphere and causes noticably higher rates of
corrosion, especially in electrical goods (TV's etc).

--

--
stuart
--
If I had it all to do over again, I'd spell creat with an "e". - Kernighan

[PeterWRowe]

Additions to silver...

Copper is added to silver for hardness and wear resistance to make
sterling if its 7.5 percent copper and 92.5 % silver, or Britania metal if
it's 5% copper etc. (Brittania is not often used, but you see it in
historical English work).

Zinc isn't used to harden silver, but added to silver/copper alloys it
lowers the melting point quickly. This is the major addition to make
medium and easy grades of silver solder.

And someone asked, why not use palladium? Well go ahead if you like.
It'll only jack up the cost of your metal something fierce, without
greatly hardening it... As to why it isn't done, well, it is done with
gold. The better white golds use palladium as the whitening metal in the
alloy. But with silver the economics don't really make sense. Copper is
cheap, and the resulting alloy (sterling) is very wonderfully workable.
Another point is that oxidation isn't always evil. Carefully applied
oxidation on sterling produces a wonderful and dramatic blue/black color
that can make a piece stand out much more than plain white does. Some of
us prefer that finish to bright white, and only polish the high spots that
wouldn't be able to hold on to the black color in normal wear and tear...
It's all in how you look at it...

[Thomas Rich Schwerdt]

In article <3nphq2$j...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>,

Fine (pure) silver DOES tarnish. Yes, silver does not react with
oxygen at room temperature -- it reacts with sulfur. I have .999 fine
silver (1oz bullion coin actually -- most of my work is in sterling ;)
and it tarnished in a matter of months. The key is environment. For
those of you who maintian that fine silver does not tarnish -- scramble
yourself an egg, drop your fine silver in it, and leave it in your
'fridge for a week. See if it tarnishes ;)

-Tom the Melaniephile
Chemist, Hoplophile and (amateur) Jeweller

[john]

if you want silver that hardly tarnishes at all try melting down old silver
coins.

it's the metals the silver is alloyed with that reduce the tarnish.

john.