My CBC bracelet

[elisa_nj]

The Hubs bought me a beautiful hook bracelet while on the island in October. Its tarnishing badly! I have other SS pieces and none are doing what this bracelet is. Even has black dots on it. Any suggestions, my polishing cloth does NOTHING!

[lazylane]

where did he get it? I would return/replace it. I bought a SS one at Freebird a couple years ago and it was tarnished the next day and I returned it. Don't know if it wasn't real silver or what, but they refunded my money - no questions asked.

[chicagoans]

I keep my silver jewelry in plastic bags (on advice of a jeweler) with some of that black anti-tarnish paper (I have a few scraps given to me by a jeweler.) It seems to slow but not stop the tarnish.

I wonder if some of my silver jewelry is perhaps plated rather than solid sterling, because some of it gets those little pock marks that don't polish off.

If anyone knows more about jewelry, specifically silver, I'd like more info too!

[PA Girl]

A cheapy silver polishing cloth does wonders for my hook bracelet. I give it a swipe before and after each wearing.

I have several pieces of sterling and find some of them tarnish quickly and badly, other don't. I wonder why. My hook ring is nothing but trouble.

[bnsilly]

Wow..I feel fortunate then.
I have had my bracelet for 3 years and the only time I take my hook bracelet off is throught airport security, and it has never tarnished or gotten any spots on it..
(Ok, it tarnished ONCE when we had a few too many drinks and had a crazy pool party in the villa pool which had a lot of chlorine, but the tarnish cloth shined it right up and have never had a problem since).
I got mine at Caravan. Sure would love to get back there to buy some more jewelry!

[UF Prof]

I would return it if at all possible. I have had a SS hook bracelet that I got on St. Croix 5-6 years ago. I wear it most of the time. Has never tarnished. It did take a hit when I wore it in a clorinated pool but shined back up with a sliver polishing cloth. It would seem that even sliver plated should not be pitting. Maybe contact the place you got it and ask if you can send it back for an exchange.
As for airport security, if you unfasten the hook, you can wear it through security without it setting off the alarm.

[piscesgirl0314]

I was always under the impression that if you don't wear sterling silver jewelry every day it will begin tarnishing. I stopped wearing my hook bracelet for awhile, it tarnished, I bought cleaner and it looks perfect. BUT, I wear it every day now...

[elisa_nj]

I bought mine in a store in Red Hook, but it has the CBC stamp inside and the .925 as well as the 14K (has 2 little thingys on it in gold) and like i said, my cloth did nothing. The spots are like embedded. I can't blame it on perfume cause I don't put it on my wrists...clorox cleanup, which I addicted to for cleaning my house, cause i remove all my jewerly immediately when i get home at night or anything else I might have done! Will be back there next month and i'll see if she'll exchange it for me.

Oh and I also have those black squares in my boxes, but the bracelet doesn't always go in them.

[Margy Z]

Hagarty has some great products. I bought a couple of the smaller zippered silver cloth bags and I keep my SS pieces in those. They also have some great cleaners:

http://www.silvergiftstore.com/silverkeepers.html

The other type of cleaner I have used is the one with the metal plate - you use hot water in a dish with some activator powder (Arm & Hammer Washing Soda) and then you submerge the pieces to have just a little part of the piece touching the metal plate and the tarnish transfers off. Be careful with some of the harsher cleaners, like Tarnex. That stuff is hard on the silver and if you have silver-plated pieces then Tarnex will work but it also strips off the silver bit by bit. Hubs has a jewelry kit for his variable speed Dremel and he uses the buffing tools to buff out his STX hook. http://www.amazon.com/Jewelry-Polishing ... B000OVPFX2

[melwill530]

I have had one of mine for 10 years and the other for 5 years. Neither have ever tarnished. I don't clean with special cloth or store in any special place. I wear mine almost all the time. I even wear in the shower. They both look almost new except for changing shape due to extensive wear. I would see if I could return it. My real silver doen't tarnish at all and I have gas heat in my house. Gas heat tends to tarnish silver quickly.

[mahojim]

Mine have become a part of me, never take them off.
No problems here, after 10 years.
Take it back!
Smiles-
MJ

[California Girl]

I really think it has a lot to do with your body chemistry. My husband's hook bracelet from Freebird tarnishes like CRAZY, but it's an excellent quality piece of jewelry! He keeps after it with an electric toothbrush and Wright's Silver Cream (he says lots of water in the mix makes it work even better), then after a good scrub, he buffs it with a silver cloth. This is about a weekly thing with him. Anything silver just turns black on him... you should see the ring I bought him (not on STJ)! It's expensive, inlaid and beautiful. It turns black and turns his finger black when he wears it. I even coated it inside & out (not the inlay work) with clear nail polish, but even that didn't work.

I also have a hook bracelet from Freebird... almost identical to his, and I've never polished it once!

I think it has to do with either a crappy piece of jewelry or highly acidic skin. In Rick's case, I'm sure it's his ph level.

[BeAsUR]

I have had my silver hook bracelet (from Caravan) for 2 years....teach kindergarten in it(glue, paint, science experiments, sneezed on, thrown up on...) and it is as pretty as the day I bought it. I highly recommend buying from Caravan.

Thanks for the tip about unhooking at airport security. I hate taking it off to go through. Good news!

[Gromit]

I also got mine from Caravan and wear it almost daily. Have not polished it once. Looks as good as the day I bought it in June.

I'd say take it to a local jeweler and see what they say. It's possible that they can re-dip it if it can't be saved. Chlorine can cause pitting. Silver is a soft metal so once it's damaged it's hard to polish it back to being smooth again.

If all else fails, I would also suggest that you just stop by Caravan on your next trip and pick another one up. I know it's not the same but this way you'll have one that isn't damaged and will be wearable. I got mine all silver and it wasn't that expensive (it says $80 on their site but I really thought I paid a little less):

http://www.caravangallery.com/index.php ... Path=1_4_5

Good luck!
Anyway, sometimes that's just the way it goes.

[pipanale]

My wife, the former jewelry professional, suggests the following as a tarnish treatment:

Take a bowl...cereal bowl size, and line the bottom with aluminum foil. Then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Plop in the silver. Fill with boiling water.

Watch it fizz...
Once cool enough, rub the paste on the pieces and then rinse. They should look nice.

Something about the aluminum reacting with the sodium bicarbonate.