Why did my gold earrings turn green after a long period of time?

I didn’t store them in high humidity or anything. Just in room temperature. I just need to know if this is safe to use because my sister has an extreme sensitivity to stainless steel and cheap metals. We got her ears pierced a week ago and now today her earlobes are bleeding and are irritated. The first time we got her ears pierced, they got infected too and they closed. The only thing she can use are pure gold, hypoallergenic earrings. We thought 14k or white gold would suffice… I know this is a separate question as to the one above, but it goes highly related to the situation, but are there any suggestions as to how my sister can wear the earrings?

Answer #1

Although “base metals” (like iron) corrode easily in normal atmospheric conditions, real gold is almost totally immune to any similar form of atmospheric corrosion. Gold should retain its bright lustre in almost all everyday conditions.

Copper is a base metal and when it suffers atmospheric corrosion, its surface turns to green “verdigris”. Greenish verdigris also forms on alloys of copper like bronze and brass.

Brass, in particular, can be polished to look quite similar to gold, at least until it loses its bright lustre due to corrosion.

My guess is that your “gold” earrings are actually made out of brass and I would not be at all surprised if brass earrings were to turn green and cause skin irritation, because verdigris is technically poisonous, though it has a fairly low toxicity.

Answer #2

Thanks for responding, but I already got my question answered.

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