My $16,000 engagement ring is turning my finger green

A. It sounds like you got a 14K gold where the alloy material was mostly copper.
The ring was not cheap, so the store that you bought it from made a bundle on it. Talk to them about having it reset in a gold with far less copper in it.
If you search this site, you will find that a lot of unhappy people were sold yellow gold that was rhodium plated. If you go the white gold route, tell them that you want a certified assay of the white gold and it has to be one that is cut with platinum. It will cost more, but it is great. You might get by with one that is cut with cobalt which is much harder, so should wear better.
If you do not mind white gold color, you could have it plated with rhodium for a few dollars. It will last from a couple of months to a year before needing replating.
You might want to take it to a jeweler that makes his own settings, where I think you might get a better and thicker plating job.

! My white gold ring does the same! I have heard it means you are not eating enough iron, but I don't know.

A. Pure gold, known as 24 Karat gold, is very soft and has poor wear resistance, so to harden it jewelers add different amounts of other metals such as copper, nickel, silver etc. The more "other metal" they add, the harder it becomes, but it also becomes less pure and cheaper. It will also change the colour of the gold. Pure gold is a "golden" colour and this cannot be changed - it is a simple fact of nature. Gold that is not "gold coloured" is not pure gold - fact. Anyway, the presence of other metals will affect how the jeweler's metal reacts on the skin. Luckily most people do not react adversely to most metals, but some do. The most common problem is with nickel and this can cause "nickel itch", which is a type of dermatitis. In an extreme case this can become a severe allergy and has been widely discussed on this site. Anyway, the way this happens is by the secretions from the skin attacking the metal or metal alloy.

The most common secretion is sweat (aka "perspiration" or "glowing") and this contains a myriad of chemical such as salt (sodium chloride) and acids such as lactic acid - it is these, and other, chemicals that make sweat smell the way it does. Unfortunately when the sweat attacks the metal, it dissolves it to give new soluble chemicals, many of which are coloured. in the case of copper, the colour is usually green or blue, whilst nickel will give green colours. This is why your skin turns a different colour - it is due to the dissolved metal salts being absorbed onto the skin. Unfortunately, sweating is increased when people are under stress; this can be caused by numerous factors such as anxiety or physical exercise. Consequently, stress causes sweat, causes colours....

I think Trevor did a great job in describing gold alloys and the effects on the skin. I think his response should be well regarded and respected by readers on this site. If I had posted the inquiry, I would have been grateful that someone had taken that much time to help!

A. Pure gold is 24 carat. 14 carat gold contains only 14/24 gold.That is - not much more than half.
I do not believe that Canada and certainly not USA have a hallmarking system. You only have the jeweler's word that it contains even that much.
The weight of an average ring is less than 10 grammes so the gold content is about 5 g with a current value of about £25 or $60 Canadian.
To be worth $16000 that must be some diamond!
If you want to spend that sort of money on a ring, consider spending some of it on a cheap flight to UK. We have had a hallmarking system since 1327. Every piece of jewelry offered for sale must be assayed and marked with the makers name, assay office, date and purity.
Until 1773 the penalty for selling gold at less than the marked purity was death. Sadly, it is now only 10 years- standards are falling! We would also expect a quality ring to be 18 carat.

A. YES! Gold has to be hallmarked by LAW in the USA. 10k, 14k etc. If your ring is not marked, it is likely gold plate which can be sold and marked as a "gold ring". ALWAYS look for the hallmark!

A. I have no idea how true this is... but a friend of mine used to have the same problem with her fingers turning green from her gold rings, she found out that it had to do with her being anemic.

A. It could be fake. Real gold and silver should not do this to your skin. A mineral deficiency, such as iron, could not be the cause of this. Having a mineral deficiency such as iron will cause a craving for ice.

! I had trouble being anemic my whole life and when it's really bad, gold does turn my skin color. It looks more black to me then green. And I know that my jewelry is a great quality because I have family in the business. Only buy the best, quality over quantity.

A. Hi Michelle. There may be exceptions, but in general if there isn't a karat mark, it probably isn't gold. If, despite lack of markings, something is represented as karat gold, you should probably get something in writing before buying it. I doubt you'll find a small claims court arbitrator who will take your side -- but who knows, especially if the consignment shop operator doesn't challenge your recollection of events.

I don't want to be unsympathetic, because I understand the double whammy you've suffered, but I'm not sure what debt the jeweler ought to feel to you. He may not have known it was plated without spending time and money conducting tests that you didn't ask for or pay for. I'd probably ask the jeweler to gold plate it at his cost if you still want it despite it not being gold. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Alieshiea. It is 14K gold so it's hard to say why your finger would get green beyond what is already said on this page. The other markings have to do with the diamonds (1 ct main stone, 6 gm total diamond weights).

Regards,

A. Is anything happening to the ring? If not, may be your boyfriend brought an undersized ring !

A. Hello Alieshiea, as you may know white gold is alloyed with other metals to give the ring a white color. Common alloys are copper, zinc, nickel, silver, palladium, or manganese. There is a very good chance that you have a nickel allergy, even though the nickel alloy is minimal. I would go back to the jeweler and ask what alloying metals are used in the ring. You also want to ask if the ring was plated with rhodium. Most engagement rings are, but not all.They will have to contact the maker of the ring to answer your questions. If the ring was plated in rhodium there isn't much you can do. If it wasn't the jeweler may send it out for rhodium plating if they want your future business and you complain enough. Good luck to you.

A. Hi Jack. Is it practical to have it gold plated or clear-coated or both in sequence? Plating with 24 kt gold should be relatively inexpensive and completely stop the greening for as long as the plating lasts.

Regards,

A. Any gold turning green or black means alloys not good from mixing alloy. I have I mixed my own alloy, never ever colour becomes green or black.

Yes, 18K Yellow or 14k Yellow or 12k/10k/9k Yellow Alloy not good; they make green or black -- nothing too do with your body having too much acid. Also same thing in white Gold or silver. Fine Gold is 99.99; 18k is 75% fine gold, adder must be silver and copper + have adder metal. Same thing white Gold you mix palladium; you must know how much adder metal, what to mix. They are like family of metals. You mix wrong and it will create problems; same thing in platinum. You cannot mix zinc, not in my opinion.

A. Hi Keihi. Rose gold is made rose colored with the addition of copper, and that may be why the alloy is turning green on you. I suspect that this necklace would not be clear coated whereas your less expensive jewelry probably is. I think you should talk to a jeweler about whether it is practical to get a clear coat on it so that it is the clear organic coating that is touching your skin rather than the gold-copper alloy.

Regards,

A. You may be anemic and not know it. I only wrest 24k gold from the Middle East and my gold turns my skin green. I know 100% there is nothing added to the gold because I wear my moms wedding bracelets and they haven't changed color on her in 25 years. When I wear them it turns green. Same with my other gold when my sister wears it she's fine but when I wear it it turns my skin green. I have really low iron and fiber. Check that before you go to the jeweler!! Real gold can turn green, doesn't always mean it's fake!!

A. No.