hi,
I wouldn't worry about the marks. Sterling silver contains lots of
copper and when heated, the combination of metals and oxygen forms an
oxide, known as 'fire stain'. This can be avoided if the piece is
shielded from oxygen whilst hot. however if it does occur, an easy way
to disguise it is to plate it with fine (pure) silver. If this is the
case with your ring, the layer of fine silver may have started to wear
off when you brushed it (pure silver is ridiculously soft). The ring
can always be re-plated.


(GreenSlimer) wrote in message
. ..
Hi,

I recently bought a sterling silver ring, which is properly stamped as
.925, and there's no other part of the ring that's not silver.. and on
the band and around the face of it that surround the stone, are
starting to develop little stains that are the color of a very light
penny.
This started happening after I washed it using Infusium-23 shampoo..
with a toothbrush (to get to the hard to reach spots..)
It doesn't look that bad and it's pretty much only noticeable if you
really look at it carefully.

The areas this is forming is indeed sterling silver and not some cheap
copper or whatever metal. Maybe this is from some of the alloys
seeping through or the polish fading off?

Still something makes no sense.

I tried taking pics with it.. but with the camera and all that I have,
it isn't showing up right at all.