southwestaffinity.com Blog

Help I have discolored my gemstones

January 16th, 2010

Quite often I get emails from folks that have accidentally discolored their turquoise or other semi-precious stones.  I thought I would post my last correspondence in hopes this information will be helpful to others.

Here is the original email, with his permission and  he told me to leave the “I’m an idiot” part in so I did as he requested.

From Seth:

I’m an idiot – attempted to polish turquoise jewelry (heirloom) with a buffing compound, and have discolored the stone – is there any hope to restore it?  Seth

My response:

Dear Seth,

 I am afraid that turquoise is very porous and most likely is ruined.  You might contact a jeweler that cuts and polishes stones to see if they can remove it and remove the surface to see if it just damaged the top surface, but I can tell you right now, they are not easy to find and of course the stones are delicate.  The bench jeweler is on it’s way out, there are too many just retail stores out there that are not able to do any repairs, but you can call around.

 I can possibly see about having a new stone put in it for you, but turquoise isn’t cheap and depending on the size of the stone it could be anywhere from $25.00 to $100.00.  I don’t have anyone here that can polish the stone either, wish I did.  If you would like for me to see about having it repaired for you, please let me know.  I can’t give you a firm quote, I just send things to them, they repair them, if they can, and tell me how much.  We don’t usually do repairs other than on our own jewelry, but sometimes the silversmiths will help me out.  

Seth:

You are so gracious – thank you so much for taking the time to respond.  I may very well come back pleading to take you up on your offer.

 Thank you again! Seth

My response:

Good luck Seth, and don’t feel so bad, guess what, it happens to a lot of people.  I even messed my white turquoise up one time, not thinking when I put some body lotion on.  It turned it a greenish color and white turquoise is suppose to be white.    It is a rare stone and I was quite upset with myself, so I know where you are coming from.  This is one reason I try to stress that people use the Haggerty silversmith Wash , I know it doesn’t discolor the stones if used properly.  It is a very common mistake.  I know before I got into the jewelry business I use to think, well it’s a rock, what could it do to it.  Well, I discovered rocks can be very porous and absorb everything.  Funny thing is everyone wants natural turquoise in there Indian made jewelry, but treated turquoise won’t discolor, that is why we use them in our beaded jewelry.  What you don’t want is enhanced which means they have been dyed, but treated to close the pores isn’t a bad thing, but it is too hard to try and explain the difference and people just don’t understand, so we sell natural turquoise, that will darken with age or when coming in contact with oils, even body oil. 

Good luck hon, appreciate your looking to me for answers.  Do you mind if I post your question on my blog.  I won’t put your name or email?  Others write me often about this kind of thing and I think I will make my answer public so it might help others, if you don’t mind.

Seth’s response:

Thank you again, and Yes Ma’am, by all means post whatever you feel is beneficial – please be sure to leave in the “help, I’m an idiot” part – that will help let the folks who want to act like they weren’t stupid to try something that (while in their gut they knew was a mistake – before they even started), know they are not alone. J

 Please also post this if you don’t mind as well:

 “It is wonderful to note, that although I am not, nor have been up until this point a Customer of Southwest Affinity, I know from how graciously Ms. Jones has responded, and willingly assisted with my questions that when the time comes for me to purchase further Jewelry – I won’t hesitate to contact Southwest, nor to recommend them at every opportunity. If they take such care for the concerns of non-patrons – how much more would they do for their own Customers?”

 All the best to you and yours,

Seth

Entry Filed under: Cleaning, Jewelry and gemstone questions, Question and answer section, Uncategorized