Answer to 14kt Gold Body Jewelry smudging?
Q.Less than 2 months ago, my girlfriend and I bought a 14k gold and sapphire ring. On Friday, my girlfriend noticed dark blue smudging on her finger beneath the stones, on no other part of her finger. It should be noted that the gold in which the stones are set is raised where there is no contact with her finger. To get a complete picture, she wears a 14k gold chain around her neck and wrist, a another 14k gold sapphire on her other hand with no smudg- ing. On Saturday, we went back to the jewelry store to explain the situation. The manager (?) said it was gold smudging. I told him that where the gold came in contact with her finger there was no smudging, that it was confined beneath the gold dome that had the sapphires. I also told him that it just started happening, and did not occur with any of her other gold jewelry. He told me that it could have been a bad batch of gold and offered to exchange it. During our conversation, I asked him and the salesperson twice if the stones were perhaps dyed. They both said no, they don't sell any color treated stones. When they gave us the new ring (the same style), we noticed the stones were noticeably darker than the original ring. Later on the way from the store, we wondered if the stones had lightened gradually since we bought the ring, and the smudging was a byproduct of it. After all that, my question; Is the smudging from the gold, or from the stones?I hope that I have given enough details for anyone with the expertise to answer my question. Please e-mail any responses since it's not always possible for me to read this group.
A.Gold Smudging occurs because of two things: 1. Your Skin and the things you put ON your skin, coming in contact with: 2. Alloys in the gold. 14kt gold is 58% pure gold and 42% alloys, which are usually copper and zinc for yellow gold. White gold can have zinc, nickle and sometimes silver. Just like your Grandma had a different recipe for her apple pie over your neighbors, different manufactures have different mixtures of the alloy. The gold content stays at 58%. These alloys come in contact with elements on your skin. Most times this occurs to women, men hardly have this problem. The smudging occurs when the metal touches certain hand creams, colgnes, and make up. In addition, this can occur from washing your hands with Benadyne (hospitals use it), taking birth control pills, and other medication. In our store, we've had this happen about 5% of the time. And it occurs to women who say "But this doesn't happen to my other 14kt jewelry!" Different alloys react with differnt chemicals that you place on your body. You mentioned that this happened under the stone. Some times the prongs that hold the stones in place are soldered in place and the solder turns the finger color. Then it's a definate reaction to cologne or hand cream.
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