Back From Up North? What Six Humid Months in a Closed Condo Do to Your Jewelry

November is when South Florida's snowbirds come back. You open up a condo that has been shut since spring, find the jewelry box where you left it, and something inside looks wrong. A silver necklace has gone yellow-brown. A gold chain looks dull. A pair of earrings has a faint green ring where the post meets the back.

Two questions follow: "Is it ruined?" and "Is it still worth anything?" The honest answer to both depends on what the piece is made of, and that is worth understanding before you start scrubbing.

Gold doesn't tarnish. The other metals in it do.

Pure gold barely reacts with anything in the air. But almost nobody wears pure gold. A karat stamp tells you how much of the piece is gold and, by subtraction, how much is something else, mostly copper and silver:

• 18K is 75% gold.
• 14K is about 58% gold.
• 10K is about 42% gold, which means more than half the chain is other metal.

Those alloy metals are the part that reacts. Copper and silver pick up sulfur from the air, and warm, damp air speeds that up. A condo closed up through a South Florida summer is close to ideal conditions for it. So it is normal for a lower-karat piece, like the 10K Figaro link chain in our case right now (22 inches, 9.9 grams, 6.25 mm), to come out of storage looking duller than an 18K piece that sat right next to it. (More on what the stamps mean in 10K vs. 14K vs. 18K.)

Here is the part people don't expect: that film does not change the karat or the weight in any way that matters. It is a thin surface layer. Your 14K chain is still 14K under it, and it weighs what it weighed in April. When we test and weigh a piece, the discoloration doesn't come into it. (If your chain ever tests a hair under its stamp, that is a different issue, covered in why 14K sometimes tests under 14K.)

Sterling silver: the one that looks worst and is usually fine

Sterling is 92.5% silver, stamped .925, and silver is the metal that reacts most visibly with sulfur. Six months in a closed jewelry box can turn a bright piece yellow, then brown, then nearly black. It looks like damage. Usually it isn't. Tarnish is a surface film, and on a solid sterling piece a jeweler's polishing cloth or a proper silver cleaner removes it. A piece like the Tiffany & Co. .925 heart-charm link necklace we have in the store now would look exactly the same after a summer in a drawer, and come back the same way.

What you should not do is reach for toothpaste, baking soda, or a scouring pad. Those are abrasive. They remove the tarnish by removing a little silver along with it, and over time they wear down fine detail and hallmarks. If you have a lot of silver, like a flatware set, see what sterling flatware is actually worth before you spend a weekend polishing it.

Plated and gold-filled pieces: where the green comes from

If something left a green mark or shows a darker metal peeking through at the edges, it is probably plated. A thin layer of gold over brass or copper looks fine until humidity gets underneath it at worn spots, clasps and earring posts, and the base metal starts to corrode. Polishing won't bring it back, because the gold layer is the part that's gone. That is also why plated jewelry has little or no gold value at a counter, whatever it looked like new. The differences are laid out in gold-filled vs. plated vs. solid gold.

Pearls and mother of pearl: the opposite problem

Pearls are not metal at all. They are organic, made of layers of nacre, and they are soft. They don't like being sealed airtight in a plastic bag, they don't like perfume or hairspray, and they scratch easily against gold and stones in a crowded box. A strung strand has a second weak point: the silk thread, which can stretch or weaken over time. If a strand looks loose or has gaps between pearls, have it restrung before you wear it.

Pearls set in gold need a different check. Look at the setting, not just the pearl. We have several pieces like this in the store right now: an 18K gold flower ring with a center pearl (size 6, 4.1 grams), 18K flower stud earrings with mother-of-pearl centers (4.6 grams), an 18K oval-link chain with a pearl cluster pendant (17 inches, 12.5 grams), and a 14K gold bangle set with two pearls (7.7 grams). The gold on all four will shrug off a humid summer. The pearl and the glue or prongs holding it are what you check: is the pearl loose, is the surface dull or flaking, is anything cracked?

Before you close up again in the spring

• Separate pieces. Soft pouches or a lined box with compartments, so chains don't tangle and pearls don't rub against diamonds.
• Keep moisture down. Silica gel packets or anti-tarnish strips in the box help, especially for silver. Replace them each season.
• Don't seal pearls airtight. A soft cloth pouch, stored flat, is better than a zip bag.
• Take photos. A quick picture of each piece and its stamp makes it easier to notice change when you come back.
• Think about what you actually wear. Pieces that spend every summer in a box are often pieces nobody wears anymore.

If you come back and decide you're done with something

If you've found a broken chain, a single earring, or a ring that no longer fits, the tarnish doesn't need to be cleaned off first. We test the metal and weigh it in front of you, and the value of gold comes from its karat and weight, not its shine. Silver is handled the same way. Plated pieces are the exception, and we'll tell you plainly if that's what you have. (If you're curious how the math works, start with how much your gold is worth and why two scales can disagree.)

If you'd rather keep the piece, collateral loans are available on jewelry and watches, no credit check. And if you're splitting the year between here and somewhere else, you can also sell gold by mail.

DD Pawn Loans is at 2751 W Atlantic Blvd #101 in Pompano Beach. We're open Monday through Thursday 10 AM to 7 PM, Friday 9 AM to 8:30 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 7 PM, and closed Sunday. Bring the box in as it is. We'll sort it with you. Questions first? Contact us.