How to fix a 925 ring that turned copper color ?

mike b

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Sep 21, 2012
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STATEN ISLAND NY
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925 ring.jpgCS RING.jpgcopper ring.jpg

This is a ring I found yesterday, it was white/scratched and marked .925. My wife liked it so I tumbled it in stainless steel shot, when I took it out this morning it was perfectly and completely copper plated. I clean almost everything I find one way or another and have had this happen before when a stray penny gets mixed in with silver, but nothing as perfect as this. So I acid tested it just now and it is silver but even before I applied the acid I could see clean silver on the ring where I rubbed it on the stone. I thing there was copper filings in my tumbler, I've washed it so it doesn't happen again. Its not a collectors piece just a pretty ring, Any ideas how to get the copper coating off ?
 

i dont like the 925 stamp mark to well
could be a fake
try rubbing with baking soda and water - should shine it
if stays coppery then probably a knock off
 

I have never had a .925 ring turn copper but there is copper under plated rings. Sometimes it may say “plated” very faintly next to the .925 though. I am pretty sure you have a fake marked or plated ring. Sorry, but you could try putting a buffing pad on a dremel and see if that will polish off the copper.
 

Beautiful ring anyway! In the pic you took of the 925 it looks like plating is worn off next to 925. Could be a reflection though. You can get it re-plated. It'll look like new.
It looks very solid, the metal, whatever it is, is in good shape. My wife says take it to a jeweler.
 

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Looks like a fake ring. Never had a real silver ring look like copper after a cleaning. Take some baking soda and a few drops of water to make a paste, then scrub a part of the ring with the paste. If it doesnt turn back silver, consider it fake.
 

It's a nice looking ring, hope it cleans-up. :occasion14:
 

Try some silver polish.Might not work but it might.
 

I clean all my silver rings with Wright's brass polish. Might be worth a shot. It's a little harsher than silver polish, but it doesn't do any harm to silver.
 

i dont like the 925 stamp mark to well
could be a fake
try rubbing with baking soda and water - should shine it
if stays coppery then probably a knock off

If you've ever tumbled silver and a copper coin got mixed in the bunch the silver will come out with a copper tint. I realized later I had copper filings/dust in my tumbler from a copper chain I tumbled a few weeks earlier, and didn't clean the tumbler out afterwards . I just got around to it today but I dipped the ring in this rust remover and a second later it was 90% better. Five minutes later its bright again ! Also it acid tested silver.
silver ri.jpgsilver r.jpg
 

Works ok on concrete great on silver ! But don't use it on anything you love.
 

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