Sterling Silver Ring with weird markings...
I recently bought a sterling silver ring, which is properly stamped as
.925, and there's no other part of the ring that's not silver.. and on
the band and around the face of it that surround the stone, are
starting to develop little stains that are the color of a very light
penny.
This started happening after I washed it using Infusium-23 shampoo..
with a toothbrush (to get to the hard to reach spots..)
It doesn't look that bad and it's pretty much only noticeable if you
really look at it carefully.
The areas this is forming is indeed sterling silver and not some cheap
copper or whatever metal. Maybe this is from some of the alloys
seeping through or the polish fading off?
I wouldn't worry about the marks. Sterling silver contains lots of
copper and when heated, the combination of metals and oxygen forms an
oxide, known as 'fire stain'. This can be avoided if the piece is
shielded from oxygen whilst hot. however if it does occur, an easy way
to disguise it is to plate it with fine (pure) silver. If this is the
case with your ring, the layer of fine silver may have started to wear
off when you brushed it (pure silver is ridiculously soft). The ring
can always be re-plated.
Actually, F.., in the U.S. that's not true. U.S. stamping laws dictate only
the precious metal content as being 92.5 percent silver. it does not specify
the remaining 7.5 percent. There are several alloys marketed these days which
subsitute some or all of the copper for other metals, usually in order to deal
with firescale problems in castings. They can legally be marked sterling, or
"925" in the U.S. Other countries may vary, however. I'm not sure whether
British law allows other than copper in sterling. they might not... (how 'bout
it, you brits?)
However, you are correct that the long time standard composition of sterling
silver is silver with only copper added. The alloy is named according to
British traditions that gave rise to our current alloys, and virtually any
sterling silver made until about fifteen years ago was alloyed with copper, as
the firescale free alloys are relatively recent developments. The copper free,
or reduced copper alloys are most commonly found these days in mass produced
cast jewelry, rather than fabricated, handmade, or stamped items.