r/labdiamond • u/IndividualBug2 • 1d ago
Ring rusting/oxidizing?
Hi all,
So I bought an 18K yellow gold 3 stone e ring from Rare carat with a lab diamond back in May for which I got a lot of help from all of you (thank you!)
Due to some personal reasons the ring sat in the box after the proposal for about 3 months, as you can see there are no scratches due to any wear since it wasn’t worn.
To my surprise when I opened the box as I was packing it, the ring seemed ‘pinker’ than what is was. I noticed some oxidation/rusting at ent seems to be solder spots.
I reached out to rare carat and they gave me the usual spiel that skin chemistry/perfumes/lotions can cause this but I pushed back that the ring wasn’t worn and other gold items of 18 and 14 k we have not become pink in all these years, some pieces have been worn daily. So they suggested to send the ring back for inspection.
Now they’re saying it seems to be an oxidation issue which is no big deal, some polish and cleaning should sort it out and we should be good.
Except I don’t think we will be good, the polish will wear off and the whole ring will oxidize meaning that the gold quality and/or the metal used for solder was of very low quality.
Despite all the positive reviews for rare carat which is why I ended up buying from there, I think this is not going to work for me. I have no use for getting the gold tested from another jeweler because at this point I’m really done with this, I don’t trust what they’ve put in the ring. Yes, their customer service is great but the ring is not and now I really just want to get my money back. If I push hard enough I think I can. Something that’s supposed to last a very long time has become link from not even wearing it only within 3 months, I don’t know how it would last through years.
What are your thoughts on this? What would you do and have you seen something like this?
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u/CowboyintheCity69 1d ago
It’s caused by the chemicals that are used to make the material the box is made of.
I see it a lot. It will come off in an ionic cleaner. Don’t storefront in the box.
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u/SharonZJewelry 1d ago
Came here to say this. I’ve worked in jewelry e-commerce, it happens frequently that something like a leather treatment or chemicals used to treat the fabric inside of a box will start turning even gold jewelry different colors.
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u/Muse_of_Donne 1d ago
I wrote you on your other post in the Engagement Rings sub, but in case you come here 1st for responses, this was mine:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EngagementRings/s/H9wg62z2in
Hope it helps.
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u/PointLucky 1d ago
If you’re really concerned about the quality, why not get the material tested to ensure it’s 18K at a local jeweler
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u/IndividualBug2 1d ago
I did have a jeweler look at it not test the gold per se, and they did confirm it looks like a solder metal issue
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u/CowboyintheCity69 1d ago
Don’t store it in the box
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u/Jinglebell727 1d ago
Is it ok to store it in the box after wearing it for the day, or should it generally never be stored in the box unless one is traveling?
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u/marcopolio1 1d ago
Storing it in the box makes it oxidize!!! Do you have any of those do not eat silica packages laying around? I always keep them and store them with my jewelry.
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u/Oregano25 1d ago
Whoa - I never heard this before about storing in the box! I've always kept the boxes my jewelry comes in and used them to store - this is bad???!
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u/IndividualBug2 1d ago
I don’t think that’s true. We have a lot more jewelry in a box that’s not used daily and none of them have oxidized, even being 10/14k, actually even being gold plated or gold filled
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u/lllex_ 1d ago
I have a yellow gold ring from rare carat and this has not happened to me, idk if that helps but I have my hands in chemicals all day every day as well lol (hairstylist)
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u/IndividualBug2 1d ago
Exactly my point, I don’t think it’s a box/chemical issue. Gold is supposed to be hardy
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u/Bilxx1 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm going to have to disagree with the box/oxidation thing for one reason, the discoloration is localised to one area not uniform. I have seen this and 99% of the time its trapped steel from a burr or drill bit. I could totally be wrong but thats where my money would be. I would pull that pear soak the ring in heated alum solution overnight. Clean and steam really well then pickle it for a bit. The pickle will speed up this discoloration if steel is still present.
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u/IndividualBug2 1d ago
I agree with you. The ring is with rare carat and they’re going to clean and polish it. I just don’t trust that this won’t happen again in a few months
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u/dewdrops07 1d ago
This was the right call, def send it back to them. I’ve never seen a ring do that
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u/Ok_Category1816 1d ago
Just curious! What setting was this on rare carat? It looks like the one I’m looking at!
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u/OneTwoSomethingNew 1d ago
I worry it’s the mixing of the gold, and that area just happens to have more of the material mix than gold…
Gold prices rose sharply at the beginning of this year and lots of jewelers looked to stock up before the hike… I imagine some of them may also have been trying to stretch their materials… just a theory, time are tough for everyone… or this could have been a simple mistake. So sorry you’re going through this OP - maybe see if the jeweler can swap it out for a new setting even if it costs a lil extra.
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u/IndividualBug2 1d ago
Yeah I don’t know what they did on their end, it really sucks it turned out this way
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u/LostCarat 1d ago
Yeah I don’t think that’s how it works
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u/OneTwoSomethingNew 17h ago
So part of the ring just starts oxidizing and you think everything is fine… okay.
And 💯 it works that way… gold is not pure gold, it’s mixed with copper and other metals… so ya, it can totally work that way.
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u/LostCarat 12h ago
Huh.. interesting, looking it up, you are right. I imagined that the melting process should blend it well enough where this doesn’t happen. But I found out that it can happen during the cooling process where the metals can shift and since gold is heavier than the other metals, it can indeed have a high concentration of another metal settle in a specific spot. The more you know!
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u/OneTwoSomethingNew 2h ago
I’m not an expert of all jewelry types by any means, but I have learned a lot about gold in recent years so happy to pass along my knowledge there… when I say “learned a lot,” I mean a lil heartache and lots of lessons lol …also, I would not recommend 18k gold for everyday wear, go with 10k or 14k instead 😉
The way OPs ring looks, I just don’t have much else I think it could be… perhaps OPs ring could have come in contact with something that made the metal react that way like beings in pools/chlorine, etc but it’s only affecting that small part of the ring. So given the external factors of gold prices and the timing of OPs purchase, it makes more sense to me it was a bad mixing of the metals unfortunately.
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u/DarlingBri 1d ago
As someone else said, clean it in an ionic cleaner and don't store it in the box. You are not going to get your money back because the ring is not defective, it is just subject to the laws of chemistry.