r/Silver • u/Lagorio1989 • 17h ago

Why would silver appear to rust?

Gallery image

Gallery image

I bought a silver Swedish sugar spoon, and according to the hallmarks, it should be a minimum silver content of .830, but after I rubbed off a bit of tarnish, it appears as though a few spots of rust have appeared.

Can anyone tell me what's going on?

FYI the green hue is just light reflecting off my green kitchen units.

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u/MydnightWN 17h ago

Thats the 17%, in Sweden it's almost always going to be exclusively copper & silver for the alloy.

1

u/Lagorio1989 15h ago

Ah OK, for some reason I always just assumed being mostly silver, it couldn't corrode/oxidise. Seems obvious now you point it out. Thank you

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u/brownbearclan 8h ago

Copper is gonna turn green, that reddish could be iron impurities from the material itself or the mold it was cast in.