What It Means If Sterling Silver Tarnishes & Turns Dark

What does it mean when sterling silver tarnishes and turns dark?

This is a question that many people have, and the answer has not always been clear enough. Sterling silver is a type of metal that is used to make jewelry and other decorative items.

It is made up of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper.

Silver is a soft metal, so it needs to be combined with another metal in order to make it strong enough to make jewelry and silverware to mention a few things.

When sterling silver tarnishes, it means that the copper in the alloy has started to oxidize. This can cause the silver to turn black or dark green in color.

However, turning black or green does not mean that you can’t clean sterling silver and restore its original shine.

In this article, we will discuss how to clean and polish sterling silver so that it looks like new again.

Why Sterling Silver Tarnishes & Turns Black, White and Dark Green

Silver tarnishes in environments containing different sulfuric gasses, which describes our natural environment. The amount of tarnishing is determined by:

• the humidity present
• the ambient temperature
• length of time that the silver is exposed to the gasses
• and the gas concentration

Tarnish can show up in several different colors depending on what types of environmental properties are acting on it and for how long.

Tarnish develops microscopically within just hours of being cleaned and then exposed to air, although you may not see it for several weeks.

If you get out your silver polishing cloth and rub the silver, you will see black on your cloth.

You can continue to polish it until no more black appears on the cloth and then a few days later, you will get black when polishing that same piece again.

This is how fast the sulfuric gasses and humidity can act when silver is exposed to air.

Incidentally, although silver can look hideous when it gets black, it is not rusting or corroded.

Only the top layer of tarnish is dark, underneath is still the beautiful silver color waiting for you to polish it.

Conversely, some silver will actually turn yellow or gold when tarnishing, and people will mistake it for gold.

Here are a few of the common ways that cause silver to tarnish:

1. Household cleaners, and common everyday chemicals, can alter your silver color almost instantly. Something as simple as window cleaner can turn silver a bronze color, and baking soda can turn it gray.
2. Minerals in your water and taking a shower while wearing your silver adds soap and shampoo to that mix, which will cause silver to turn color quicker.
3. Perfume, lotion, hairspray and perspiration.
4. Silver is going to tarnish even if it does not get anything except air on it.
5. Air pollution, and even just living in close proximity to a chemical, electrical or manufacturing plant, can contribute to silver tarnishing faster, especially when coupled with humidity in the air.

Have you seen those flannel cloths that people wrap their sterling silver candlesticks and table silverware in?

Well, this will slow down the tarnishing a little, but it can never stop it because it is not airtight.

You may spend the day polishing all your silverware for a holiday dinner, then afterwards, wash and dry the silverware and wrap each piece tightly in flannel cloths to keep the air out.

Depending on how dry the silver was when it was wrapped, this will most likely save you some time not having to re-polish between Thanksgiving and Christmas at best, but more so if the silver was fully dry before being wrapped.

How To Clean And Polish Sterling Silver

By now you’re probably realizing that there isn’t really much you can do to keep your sterling silver from tarnishing, but there are things you can do to clean and polish it.

The best way to clean sterling silver is with a product that is made specifically for cleaning silver. You can find these at most hardware stores or online, as well as Amazon.

For the best polishing, we use a Dremel tool with polishing rouge that will make your silver look like new again.

If you don’t have a Dremel, you can use a soft polishing cloth and some elbow grease to get your silver looking shiny and new, but it certainly wont look as good!

However, special attention is needed if your silver jewelry contains the following:

• Turquoise
• Tourmaline
• Peridot
• Pearls
• Malachite
• Lapis lazuli
• Emerald
• Coral
• or Amber

These cannot be dipped in silver cleaner nor put into an ultrasonic cleaner.

They have too many natural inclusions or layers that will cause them to quickly degrade or crack open. We will touch on the steps for these gemstones that are set in silver shortly.

Cleaning Silver With TarnX, Dremel & Rouge

All other sterling silver with or without other types of stones can be cleaned very quickly by using TarnX. Here is the best way to do it:

1. Pour TarnX into a small deep plastic container that has a lid. It will smell like rotten eggs.
2. Wearing thin exam gloves, dip the piece of jewelry for three seconds. Not minutes, seconds. Longer is not better because it will leave a heavy white haze all over your silver that will require further polishing to remove.
3. Quickly rinse under running water or in a bowl.
4. Dry.
5. Use a Dremel tool and polishing rouge. Apply the rouge onto the small wool buffer on lowest speed. (Tripoli is not needed with silver items). Sterling silver is quite soft, so a medium or higher speed is not necessary.
6. Once you have covered the silver with rouge and polished it, use a little Dawn soap in hot water to remove the rouge from the item. Just wash it with your fingers, rubbing all the compound off of it.
7. Dry with a cloth, then examine. (Repeat on areas that you may have missed or that need further polishing).
8. Put the item into a Mr. Clean bath to soak. You will use 1 part Mr. Clean with 5 parts of water. Leave items in there for about 5 minutes or so. (You may put sterling silver into the ultrasonic cleaner for 5 minutes also as long as the items do not have any of the delicate stones mentioned above. However, you will have to change the water completely if you want to then use the ultrasonic for gold or platinum. See note at bottom of article for why.
9. Get out the soft toothbrush and use it to clean crevices that were difficult to reach.
10. Rinse well and then dry.
11. Use the yellow part of the polishing cloth to go back over the silver until bright and shiny.

Cleaning Silver Containing Delicate Gemstones

You may follow all the steps above except DO NOT dip these pieces into the TarnX. Dipping them will immediately degrade the surfaces of the gems.

This will be very noticeable.

Do not get the polishing rouge on the gems! This compound is abrasive enough to dull the gem finish.

Also, do not put these into the ultrasonic cleaner! The cavitation process of the ultrasonic cleaner will crack and break these gemstones.

Tips For Preventing Your Sterling Silver From Tarnishing

People in the South insist that by putting a couple pieces of white chalk inside the box that you keep your flannel wrapped silverware.

This is supposed to help to keep the silver from tarnishing because the chalk absorbs moisture much the same way that desiccants do.

You can try that with your sterling silver jewelry too.

“They” (whoever they are) say to wear your silver often to keep it from tarnishing.

We can agree with that, not because it is not being exposed to all the typical elements that cause tarnishing, but because if it is being worn, it is getting some friction from rubbing against towels, sheets, and on your clothes, and therefore is getting polished a bit.

Keep your silver in a place with low humidity and heat.

These two things cause other elements to act faster to tarnish your silver.

Rhodium Plating Over Sterling Silver

There is no way to stop silver from tarnishing, unless of course it cannot get exposure to the air and the environment.

So if you happen to have pieces of sterling silver jewelry that are always bright and shiny, then it is more than likely that they were rhodium plated.

Rhodium is in the platinum family and is in liquid form when applied as a dip to protect the silver from air and keep it from tarnishing.

Some people actually like the “patina” of tarnishing silver because it can look rather dramatic or gothic, others prefer bright and shiny.

If you prefer the shiny silver, it is best to buy jewelry that has had the rhodium plating applied to it so that you won’t have to worry about tarnishing for years until the plating finally wears off.

If you would like your jewelry rhodium plated, you can take it to a jeweler and have it done.

It does wear off over time, so it will eventually need to be re-plated.

FAQ’s About Sterling Silver Tarnishing & Turning Dark

Is sterling silver real?

Sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver. But pure silver is too soft for making anything except for coins with.

Coins that are pure silver are not worn but are kept in protective containers. Sterling silver has copper alloy in it to make it harder so that it can be used for many things.

Can I shower with sterling silver?

It is not recommended to shower with sterling silver jewelry. If you do, be prepared to have to polish your silver far more often because you will make it tarnish faster due to the water and chemicals in your soap or shampoo.

How long will sterling silver last?

Sterling silver does tarnish, but it does not rust or corrode. If it is a piece of jewelry that is regularly worn, it will last decades before it wears out, or longer if you only wear it occasionally.

Will sterling silver tarnish if you wear it everyday?

Sterling silver does tarnish, but if you wear it every day, it will not tarnish as quickly as if you only wore it occasionally because the friction from wearing it polishes the silver and keeps it from tarnishing.

Does sterling silver turn skin green?

The chemistry between the salts in your skin and the copper alloy in the silver is causing it to tarnish on your skin. It is not actually turning your skin green.

Final Thoughts

Sterling silver does tarnish and will turn dark, but with a little care, you can prevent it or at least slow the process down.

Be sure to store your sterling silver jewelry in an anti-tarnish pouch or box when you are not wearing it and keep it away from moisture and heat.

And don’t forget to wear it often!

The more you wear it, the slower it will tarnish due to daily friction. But if does tarnish, don’t worry! It’s easy to clean with a little silver polish and a soft cloth.

So go out and enjoy your sterling silver jewelry!