Different shades of yellow gold for vintage alhambra hammered gold

[nicole0612]

It’s tarnish.
I have a powerful ultrasonic and it has helped me a lot. Mine is a bit older than yours.
Even my great grandmother jewelry comes back to life with it.
At worse use a gentle polishing cloth or have VCA do it.

Thank you. I am not worried about it at all, I know it is totally normal and doesn't bother me, I just wanted to post a photo to add to the shared knowledge here.

 

[vko]

I have been looking a lot at vintage pieces of the Hammered YG. It seems that they oxides and turn more yellow over time. I was surprised at how yellow and dirty they looked compared to brand new pieces.
I think if you give a good clean and use a rouge polishing cloth, you should get some of the oxidation out.
It worked for my RG piece.
Also the ultrasonic works wonders on the hammered and doesn’t damage it.

Which ultrasonic cleaner do you have? Thanks!

 

[vko]

Hello! I recently purchased the vintage alhambra 5 motif bracelet in hammered gold and yellow gold to match with my 2 yr old vintage alhambra pendant in hammered gold and yellow gold. I noticed that my pendant is more yellow gold (more towards my liking) whereas the new bracelet has a lighter shade of yellow gold.

Is that expected? I asked my SA and he said it is due to the different combination of elements to make the yellow gold, hence making the jewellery truly handcrafted, etc. Another SA mentioned it is because my necklace has oxidised hence making it more yellow in nature.

Anyone else have the same experience as me?

I actually noticed that with RG vintage Alhambra necklace. I lost one a while back and got one to replace it and it’s seems to be oxidizing so much more than the previous one. I took it for cleansing and the SA said it’s due to shampoo and water residue but I don’t shower with it so I found that reason to be weird…I have Tiffany and Cartier jewelry and I didn’t experience the same issue. Disappointing to say the least!

 

[stephbb9]

Which ultrasonic cleaner do you have? Thanks!

I got this on Amazon:

CREWORKS Ultrasonic Cleaner with Heater and Timer, 0.85 gal. Stainless Steel 120W.​

I like it better than others I tried but it’s really loud….
VCA RG is a lot pinkier than Cartier. There’s probably less brass and more copper in it (but still the same amount of gold since it’s 18kt)?
Anything under 24kt will tarnish but it may be more visible with pink? Yellow will become more yellowish/ blackish.
At Bulgari they recommended me to clean the gold with a gentle toothpaste (not whitening). Maybe this works too on your jewelry?

 

[vko]

I got this on Amazon:

CREWORKS Ultrasonic Cleaner with Heater and Timer, 0.85 gal. Stainless Steel 120W.​

I like it better than others I tried but it’s really loud….
VCA RG is a lot pinkier than Cartier. There’s probably less brass and more copper in it (but still the same amount of gold since it’s 18kt)?
Anything under 24kt will tarnish but it may be more visible with pink? Yellow will become more yellowish/ blackish.
At Bulgari they recommended me to clean the gold with a gentle toothpaste (not whitening). Maybe this works too on your jewelry?

Thank you for sharing your cleaner, I’ll check it out!

Have you tried the tooth paste thing? I just brought it to VCA boutique to get it cleaned and it looks brand new now. I have this cleaner “UKOKE 3800S, Professional Jewelry Timer, Portable Household Ultrasonic Cleaning” link here—> https://a.co/d/ivsR7zI. It works really well on my rings but the delicate necklace gets tangled in the basket so I stopped using it for my necklaces

 

[Miss Nazli]

Thank you for the great pics nicole0612. My yellow gold pieces have the same differences. My bracelet which I just purchased is a lighter creamier yellow. My necklace which I received less than four months ago is darker.

At first, I was disappointed re: the difference in color but after further observation I am appreciating the lighter gold color. It tends to blend in more with rose and white gold. It looks a little more modern.

I am confident that there is a good reason VCA made these changes....

Just some thoughts....

 

[nicole0612]

Thank you for the great pics nicole0612. My yellow gold pieces have the same differences. My bracelet which I just purchased is a lighter creamier yellow. My necklace which I received less than four months ago is darker.

At first, I was disappointed re: the difference in color but after further observation I am appreciating the lighter gold color. It tends to blend in more with rose and white gold. It looks a little more modern.

I am confident that there is a good reason VCA made these changes....

Just some thoughts....

I agree with you, I actually like the brighter color as it shines more. Maybe this will help with those of us who had trouble with RG blending into our skin too much!

 

[stephbb9]

Thank you for sharing your cleaner, I’ll check it out!

Have you tried the tooth paste thing? I just brought it to VCA boutique to get it cleaned and it looks brand new now. I have this cleaner “UKOKE 3800S, Professional Jewelry Timer, Portable Household Ultrasonic Cleaning” link here—> https://a.co/d/ivsR7zI. It works really well on my rings but the delicate necklace gets tangled in the basket so I stopped using it for my necklaces

I tried the toothpaste thing once on my JUC and it made it super clean and shiny.
Glad that VCA cleaned yours!
You can maybe get a small plastic basket for your most delicate pieces to put in ultrasonic machine?

 

[vko]

I tried the toothpaste thing once on my JUC and it made it super clean and shiny.
Glad that VCA cleaned yours!
You can maybe get a small plastic basket for your most delicate pieces to put in ultrasonic machine?

Awesome it worked out!
Oh I love that idea!! I’ll try it!

 

[vko]

Thank you for the great pics nicole0612. My yellow gold pieces have the same differences. My bracelet which I just purchased is a lighter creamier yellow. My necklace which I received less than four months ago is darker.

At first, I was disappointed re: the difference in color but after further observation I am appreciating the lighter gold color. It tends to blend in more with rose and white gold. It looks a little more modern.

I am confident that there is a good reason VCA made these changes....

Just some thoughts....

I feel like they should have quality control over their gold production so it doesn’t happen? I read there are many factors to cause gold to oxidize but I feel like other jewelry I have hold better over time? Is that just me though lol?

 

[kura]

I feel like they should have quality control over their gold production so it doesn’t happen? I read there are many factors to cause gold to oxidize but I feel like other jewelry I have hold better over time? Is that just me though lol?

I agree with you.

Or maybe they just want to cut cost? Whatever the case, it is deterring me from getting anymore yellow gold pieces from VCA. I rather they change the formulation for all at a go instead of selling some dark yellow ones with some lighter yellow ones. Maybe it’s just me…

 

[Miss Nazli]

I agree with you.

Or maybe they just want to cut cost? Whatever the case, it is deterring me from getting anymore yellow gold pieces from VCA. I rather they change the formulation for all at a go instead of selling some dark yellow ones with some lighter yellow ones. Maybe it’s just me…

It will be interesting to see if this will be the case for perlee bangles (different color yellow gold)...

 

[stephbb9]

It will be interesting to see if this will be the case for perlee bangles (different color yellow gold)...

That’s an interesting point… I have not noticed as much tarnising with the Guilloche YG. So maybe it’s because the Hammered is made matte with some kind of different layer on top that makes it more prone to tarnish?
Some pieces are more matte than others. Maybe they don’t polish them as much?
The Perlée bracelets are polished.

 

[vko]

I agree with you.

Or maybe they just want to cut cost? Whatever the case, it is deterring me from getting anymore yellow gold pieces from VCA. I rather they change the formulation for all at a go instead of selling some dark yellow ones with some lighter yellow ones. Maybe it’s just me…

Have you asked your SA about it? I will ask mine this weekend when I’m in the boutique to get my piece resized and keep you posted

 

[vko]

That’s an interesting point… I have not noticed as much tarnising with the Guilloche YG. So maybe it’s because the Hammered is made matte with some kind of different layer on top that makes it more prone to tarnish?
Some pieces are more matte than others. Maybe they don’t polish them as much?
The Perlée bracelets are polished.

Maybe, it did only happen to me so far with my hammered RG. I just got a guilloche piece so will see how it stands the rest of time. I do think it’s strange that it doesn’t happen this badly with other brands.