Silver goes dark because sulphur in the air reacts with it. That is tarnish, and it is a surface film, not damage. On solid silver it comes off. On plated silver it can come off along with the plating, which is why the method matters more than the effort.
The short version
If it is plated, or has stones, use a polishing cloth and nothing else. If it is solid 925 with no stones, the baking soda and foil trick is fine. Never use toothpaste on either.
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Before anything: is it solid silver or plated?
Look for a stamp: 925, sterling, or S925 means solid sterling. No stamp usually means plated, and plated pieces need the gentle method only. If you are not sure, treat it as plated.
And check what else is on the necklace. Pearls, opals, turquoise, coral and amber are porous or soft, and most cleaning solutions will dull or crack them. Anything with stones set in glue also comes apart in hot water.
The gentle method, safe on everything
A silver polishing cloth. It is impregnated with a mild polish and it lifts tarnish by rubbing, with no liquid involved. Rub in straight lines, not circles, and keep going until the cloth stops turning black.
This is the only method we would use on plated jewellery, on anything with stones, and on chains, where liquids get trapped between links and finish the job for you by corroding from the inside.
A two-pack of 10 x 12 inch silver polishing cloths costs around $14 and lasts years. Do not wash it when it goes black: the black is the polish working, and washing removes the compound that does the job.
If the piece is just dirty rather than tarnished, warm water with a drop of washing-up liquid and a soft toothbrush handles it. Dry it completely afterwards. Damp is what causes tarnish in the first place.
The baking soda and foil method, and when not to use it
This is the one all over the internet: line a bowl with aluminium foil, add boiling water, a tablespoon of baking soda, drop the silver in and watch the tarnish vanish in seconds. It works, and it is genuinely satisfying. It is an electrochemical reaction: the sulphur transfers from the silver to the aluminium.
Do not use it on:
- Plated silver. The reaction does not distinguish between tarnish and a thin plating layer, and you can strip it in one go
- Oxidised or antiqued pieces. The dark recesses that give the design its depth are deliberate tarnish. This removes them and leaves the piece looking flat and cheap
- Anything with stones or pearls
- Hollow or filled pieces. Water gets inside and never comes out
Commercial dips: fast, and easy to overdo
For heavily tarnished solid silver with no stones, a dip is the quickest route. Hagerty silver cleaner and tarnish remover, around $9, is the one most jewellers keep on the bench.
Two rules with any dip. Seconds, not minutes: it is a chemical reaction, not a soak, and leaving silver in longer does not clean it better, it etches the surface and leaves it dull grey. And rinse thoroughly in clean water afterwards, then dry, because residue keeps working after you have stopped looking.
Never use a dip on plated jewellery, for exactly the same reason as the foil method.
What not to do, ever
Toothpaste. It is recommended constantly and it is abrasive: it does remove tarnish, by removing a layer of silver with it, and it leaves a haze of fine scratches that you only see later in daylight.
And leaving anything soaking overnight in anything at all.
How to stop it coming back
Tarnish is caused by air, moisture and sulphur, so the fix is to remove all three. Store pieces in a small airtight bag, one per bag so chains do not scratch each other. Anti-tarnish storage bags at around $11 contain a compound that absorbs sulphur from the air inside, and they are the difference between polishing twice a year and polishing every month.
Keep silver away from wool, rubber bands and newspaper, which all release sulphur. Put your jewellery on last, after perfume, hairspray and lotion, and take it off before showering or swimming. Chlorine is much harder on silver than air is.
Related
If the problem is the chain rather than the finish, we have step-by-step guides for a pendant hole that is too small for the chain, untangling a knotted chain and shortening a necklace chain without cutting it.
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