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Does sterling silver tarnish?
Yes, sterling silver tarnishes over time.
Sterling silver is an alloy of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, typically copper. Copper makes sterling silver more durable, but also more susceptible to tarnishing.
Why does sterling silver tarnish?
Sterling silver tarnishes when it comes into contact with sulfur-containing gases, which are found in air molecules, water, wool, felt, and more.
Other factors that can contribute to tarnishing include air humidity, salty air. chlorine, human perspiration and more.
The topic of tarnishing silver is more complicated than the simple explanation above. Below are the common questions people have about tarnishing silver and how to prevent it.
- Does Gold Plating Over Sterling Silver Tarnish?
- Does Sterling Silver Jewelry Tarnish?
- Does Cubic Zirconia Sterling Silver Tarnish?
- Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Water?
- Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Nitric Acid?
- Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Vinegar?
- Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Lemon Juice?
- Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Hydroxide Peroxide?
- How to Clean Tarnished Silver at Home?
Table of Contents
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Water?
Yes, sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to water.
A small amount of water won’t immediately damage sterling silver. However, repeated and prolonged exposure will lead to noticeable tarnishing of your silver coins, bars and jewelry.
Sterling silver is especially sensitive to chlorine in public swimming pools as chlorine in the water reacts with the copper in the silver alloy.
Here’s an example from Reddit of someone dropping silver rings into chlorinated water and very quickly regretting it.
The rings appeared rusted beyond repair (however, sterling silver doesn’t rust) through other redditors said it’s probably a lot of surface tarnish.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Saltwater?
Yes, sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to saltwater.
Saltwater tarnishes silver faster than regular water and even chlorinated water. Prolonged exposure to saltwater can even corrode sterling silver jewelry and bullion items.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Nitric Acid?
No, sterling silver doesn’t tarnish when exposed to nitric acid. Sterling silver reacts with the acid and this reaction is the way to test whether you have real or fake sterling silver.
Let’s say you want to use nitric acid to test a sterling silver bracelet.
Apply a drop of nitric acid to your sterling silver bracelet. The bracelet is made of real sterling silver if it starts to adopt a creamy color. The bracelet isn’t made of real silver if it turns green when exposed to nitric acid.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Vinegar?
Yes, exposing sterling silver to vinegar causes it to tarnish.
The tarnish effect is time-dependent and volume-dependent.
This means a drop of vinegar applied to your silver necklace for a few seconds won’t do anything to it.
However, dropping your silver necklace into a bowl of vinegar and leaving it overnight will cause it to tarnish completely and even look rusted and corroded.
White vinegar is often used as a safe and effective way to clean tarnished silver, usually in combination with baking soda and aluminum foil. It’s because the acidic nature of vinegar helps to remove tarnish without damaging your sterling silver item.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Lemon Juice?
No, sterling silver doesn’t tarnish when exposed to lemon juice. You can use lemon juice to effectively clean tarnish off your sterling silver.
However, lemon juice is highly acidic and causes silver to corrode, resulting in a dull, pitted, and uneven surface. This type of damage is much more dangerous than silver tarnish because you won’t be able to easily remove it.
The acidity of lemon juice can even permanently damage silver jewelry that’s exposed to it for too long (>24h).
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Hydrogen Peroxide?
Yes, exposing sterling silver to hydrogen peroxide causes it to tarnish, often leaving a black, brown or dull appearance on the silver item.
I don’t recommend you clean sterling silver with hydrogen peroxide as it will permanently damage the item you’re trying to clean.
And you won’t be able to clean the tarnish afterwards unless you go and visit a jeweler for professional cleaning.
Hydrogen Peroxide has such a strong tarnishing effect on silver than it only take a couple of hours for silver to go dark brown and look irreparable.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Moist Air?
Yes, sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to moist air. It’s because moisture in the air facilitates chemical reactions between silver and sulfur compounds.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Bleach?
Yes, sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to bleach. Bleach is a strong agent and it tarnishes silver much faster than water, air moisture, lemon juice and even chlorine.
Note: the chlorine in bleach reacts chemically with the silver, creating a layer of silver chloride which appears as a dark tarnish.
Get your silver away from bleach because bleach is strong enough to dissolve sterling silver jewelry.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Flame and Fire?
Yes, sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to flame and fire. Fire tarnishes sterling silver because the heat from the flame causes the copper content in the alloy to oxidize and form a layer of copper oxide on the surface.
This layer of copper oxide is called “fire scale” or “fire stain”.
Here’s an example of fire stain and tarnish. You can clearly see the oxidized copper on the surface of the piece.
Note: you can use a small and weak flame from a lighter to test the authenticity of your silver jewelry.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Baking Soda?
No, sterling silver doesn’t tarnish when exposed to baking soda.
You can use baking soda to clean tarnish off your silver from the comfort of your home. Just remember that baking soda is mildly abrasive and with enough pressure you can scratch and damage your jewelry.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Toothpaste?
Yes, sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to toothpaste. Most commercial toothpaste brands contain mild abrasives that can scratch the surface of the silver, creating many tiny grooves where tarnish builds up more easily.
This means repeated toothpaste exposure of will cause your silver item to tarnish faster in the future.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish When Exposed to Alcohol?
Yes, alcohol tarnishes sterling silver. Alcohol reacts with the copper within the sterling silver alloy causing a chemical reaction that leads to the formation of a dark silver sulfide layer on the surface (tarnish).
Alcohol also weakens the quality and cause breakage of the jewelry making it appear dull and lose its shine.
Note: you can use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) to clean silver, as it efficiently removes light tarnish and surface dirt.
Remember to be cautious and only use rubbing alcohol on solid silver pieces which are unlikely to be damaged and tarnished.
Does Gold Plating Over Sterling Silver Tarnish?
Yes, gold plating over silver sterling tarnishes over time. Gold plating over sterling silver can come off exposing the silver which then tarnishes as any other sterling silver.
Gold plate, unless made of 24k gold which doesn’t tarnish, also tarnishes when exposed to oxygen, sulfur, moisture, and other elements.
Does Sterling Silver Jewelry Tarnish?
Yes, sterling jewelry tarnishes when exposed to salty air, chlorine, sulfur, humidity, fire, perspiration, cosmetics, household bleach and other strong chemicals.
Coins and bars made of sterling silver are also vulnerable to tarnishing from water, moist air, fire, chlorine, sulfur, humidity, perspiration, cosmetics, bleach and other strong chemicals.
Here’s an example comparison of tarnished vs untarnished sterling silver ring.
Note: your silver jewelry might be fake if it tarnishes too often and too quickly. Silver isn’t magnetic so you can use a magnet to quickly and reliably check the authenticity of your silver jewelry item.
Does Cubic Zirconia Sterling Silver Tarnish?
Yes, cubic zirconia sterling silver tarnishes over time. Cubic zirconia stones don’t tarnish, but the sterling silver surrounding them does. Sterling silver that’s part of cubic zirconia jewelry is vulnerable to tarnish just the same as jewelry made of sterling silver alone.
Does Silver 999 Tarnish? What about Other Types of Silver (925, 958, 900, 800)?
No, silver 999 doesn’t tarnish. Silver 999. Silver 999 is the finest and purest for of silver, also known as “three nines fine”. IRA-approved silver is at least 0.999 pure. It’s the type of silver precious metal investors buy when they want to open a gold IRA or silver IRA.
Check out my Augusta Precious Metals review if you’re interested in investing in premium-grade silver bullion. Augusta ranks among one of the best gold IRA companies in the US.
Another excellent option is Birch Gold Group. Check out my Birch Gold Group review here.
Silver 925 is another name for sterling silver and it too doesn’t tarnish.
Silver 958 doesn’t tarnish. This type of silver is known as “Britannia silver” and is a popular standard in United Kingdom.
Silver 900 doesn’t tarnish. 900 silver is known as coin silver and is often used for making coins and bullion.
Silver 800 doesn’t tarnish. 800 silver is known as continental silver or European silver and is often used for making flatware, jewelry, coinage, and niello work. 800 silver has the highest tarnishing potential due to the presence of other metals in the alloy.
How to Clean Tarnished Silver at Home?
One of the easiest way to clean tarnished silver at home is with baking soda, a common kitchen ingredient.
Here are the steps:
Prepare the solution. In a container, combine 1 cup of baking soda per gallon of hot water. You can also add 1/2 cup of salt to the solution.
Submerge the silver. Place the silver in the solution, making sure it’s completely submerged. You can wrap the silver in aluminum foil to help remove the tarnish.
Soak and check. Let the silver soak until the tarnish is gone. The time it takes depends on how tarnished the silver is. You can check periodically and add more hot water if the water starts to cool down.
Rinse and dry. Remove the silver from the solution, rinse with clean water, and dry with a soft cloth.
Polish. Buff the silver with a silver polish to remove any remaining tarnish.
Does Sterling Silver Tarnish? And Why (Conclusion)?
Sterling silver tarnishes.
So do many other types of silver.
So does sterling silver plated with 18k gold.
The good news is that you can easily clean tarnish from your silver items at home with baking soda and vinegar.
Have questions?
Shoot them in the comment section below.
Nikola Roza
Nikola Roza is a blogger behind Nikola Roza- SEO for the Poor and Determined. He writes for bloggers who don't have huge marketing budget but still want to succeed. Nikola is passionate about precious metals IRAs and how to invest in gold and silver for a safer financial future. Learn about Nikola here.
