Mercury damage to gold jewelry is easily fixed with coconut oil!

A. Hi Ms. Wilson,

Your reading is right about nitric acid; you can also heat that ring at your home, but after heating or putting in nitric acid you have to clean (polish) the ring.

Good luck,

A. The mercury will migrate into the gold similar to a splash of water migrating into dry wood. You will need to autoclave (outside extraction!) the ring at a temperature above the boiling point of mercury and below the softening point of gold (to be safe I would recommend at least 3 days).

A. Nancy, just like you, I broke a thermometer yesterday and my wedding rings turned silver in color. I have not talked to my jeweler yet (who is a good friend of mine).

I told my husband about the rings and he tried to clean the rings in our jewelry cleaner. Big mistake, because my husband put some other gold jewelry in with it and now every thing in it is silver.

What I did do is this. I started my propane burner and boiled a pot of water. Mercury evaporates into a vapor and into the air. Boiling mercury is toxic because the vapors can go into the air and be breathed into the lungs. Gold miners used mercury to pan for gold. Then they would boil the mercury off the gold and tumble it. I was told there isn't a significant amount of mercury on the rings but wear a face mask the you can buy in the medical department at Walmart.

My husband and I boiled a couple pieces of pieces last night, to experiment with, for about an hour and they look like brass that needs to be shined. Before I do my rings I am going to talk to my friend to see if he will extract the stones before I boil it. My neighbor said I could put my rings in his tumbler (Used to polish brass gun shells for those who reload their own bullets). I can keep you in touch with what happens after wards. I just got married a couple months ago and like you, my rings mean a lot.

Sorry if this seems a little scattered. I read your question and was able to relate. It is a shame to think there isn't any jeweler who can help.

 Thank you for that sobering link, Janet. Doing some web searches I see some jewelry shops in England who will repair this mercury damage, but I've found none in the USA advertising to do it.

Obviously, people will try to save their priceless heirlooms no matter the personal and environmental risk -- desperate people take desperate chances. But the process really should be done by trained professionals with proper facilities rather than by amateurs-- this refusal by the jewelry industry to be proper stewards, and just wash their hands of the issue, is a serious problem! If anyone knows of such a service, please advise.

A. Your problem can be solved easily by heating the affected area with a butane lighter. The ones with the blue flame would be best. The mercury which has dissolved the gold and other metals to form an amalgam will boil off leaving the original metals as they were originally. However, if in the process when the gold was dissolved, it's shape was changed, correcting that would be a separate problem.

It has been noted that the fumes from the mercury vapor are dangerous. While this is true, if proper care is taken, the risks are minute. The amount of mercury on the ring is very small. You should be able to avoid breathing the mercury vapor if you heat the ring outside and do it upwind. Use a piece of wire or coat hanger to hold the ring while you heat it. Also, you may try to hold you breath for 20 seconds or so while heating. Reheat until complete.

Some people will try to scare you to think that you will drop dead from this exercise. Well consider that alluvial gold miners heat mercury gold amalgam every day with little protection. During a recent study of miners in Indonesia, the study results were surprised by the low levels are mercury found in the miners blood. I think if you do it one time, you should be able to avoid exposure. Just to be safe, don't do it if your pregnant. Give the job to your hubby.

Oh gosh, what about polluting the environment with the fumes? Well again, that is of no significance to the environment. According to the EPA, the USA coal industry releases about 157 TONS of mercury into the air every year (1998 data). Even still, nearly half of mercury in the atmosphere is released by natural processes such as volcanoes. Therefore, your milligrams worth of mercury is nothing to worry about.

Let us know how you make out.

A. Hi, Marianne, Don. I wouldn't! If you can find no jeweler to help you, I'd boil them in coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] outside, using a pot liner.

Many thanks to Anusha Raj for the coconut oil solution!.

Regards,

A. Basic Chemistry folks: Mercury coating Gold => mercury & O2 + heat => Mercury oxide, a stable stable compound and you just polish it off the inert Gold with whatever you favor.

Like most of you I was playing with a thermometer and got mercury on my wedding ring I've been wearing for 20 years... so it was kind of important to get it off, but the more I polished the more I heated and moved the mercury around and it never came off.

To get it off I finally just bent a cloths hanger leaving the bent part in place to put my ring on. I then turned on the good old LP kitchen stove and heated the ring to a dull red, took it out of the flame and let it smoke a bit. When it stopped smoking I put it back in. I did this over and over seven or eight times until the entire ring was a dull black (mercury oxide).

Then it was just a matter of polishing the stable form of mercury off of the inert gold. I haven't used my polishing rouge yet but Crest and a sponge does a pretty good job until I have time to use the rouge and make it mirror bright

A. I read where you cut a spud in half, hollow it out to the size of the amalgam (rings?), then tie the halves together with a piece of wire. Chuck it into a fire and let it bake. After awhile, fish it out and remove the gold/rings. To recover the mercury, bake it some more (to charcoal I presume), then crush and mix with water in your panning dish. I guess the flesh of the spud must trap the mercury. Sounds good to me.

A. I had a similar accident in a lab. a little drop of mercury landed on my gold ring and within a few minutes the entire surface of the ring got coated with mercury. I obviously panicked and approached the chemistry professor of my school for advice. he calmly took the ring from me and dipped it in an acid (not sure which kind). all of the mercury disappeared within no time and I was unable to notice any discoloration or other blemishes on the ring thereafter. this technique in my opinion is safer to the metal as well as health.

A. I dropped mercury on my gold ring for the second time :( , here in India they use 100% coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] to revive the Gold; didn't believe my grandma! However, tried it and it works trust me it does, all you have to do is drop it in coconut oil and boil for a 2 mins or more ... but do take some precautions when you try it and MERCURY IS EXTREMELY DEADLY !

The coconut oil remedy works perfect. Placed my wedding ring in the spoonful of coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] and heated the oil. Did not work in the first attempt with 100% results. Achieved it in the second one. Kudos to your Grandma :)

A. I did this experiment, I had a thermometer to throw, so I took out mercury and touched my ring to it :), by then I didn't read this page, as how difficult it is to take it off :)

Guys if the amount of mercury is less, than don't worry.
Get some coconut oil simple to find for Indians - Parachute coconut oil, then heat the oil, and dip your ring in it.
leave it for some time.
keep watching it, its really quick!
and if needed repeat the process.

the polish of the gold will be lil off, but that's not a big deal!

cheers!

A. Hi, Rose. Mercury forms a stable amalgam with gold. I have heard of cases where the exposure to mercury was so low that the ring turned back to gold, as the mercury diffused in, but don't count on it, and you don't want to wear a toxic material like mercury. Take it to a jeweler to see if he will drive the mercury out. If not, you will have to decide whether you want to follow the instructions that others have offered of boiling it in coconut oil outside (maybe on a BBQ grill). Good luck.

Regards,

A. Okay, I had the same thing happen with my silver ring. I found one jeweler who will work with it. They dip the ring into cyanide salts and it extracts the mercury. I have checked with two chemists who have agreed it should work. Not sure if they have to remove the stone first though. I'll let you know how it comes out. Its worth a shot.

A. My ring returned to normal within 48 hours with no treatment.

A. Hi, Robin. I'm not an expert on this matter, but I don't think the reaction truly differs, but is simply a matter of degree.

Mercury and gold form the amalgam you are seeing, and it will happen every time you spill mercury on a gold ring. It is a reaction like making a metal alloy, but it happens quickly and at room temperature. Mercury also forms amalgams with the silver and copper content of the ring, so I suppose the results could look a bit different based on the karat content of the ring.

Mercury vaporizes as a gas into the air, and we have theorized that if mercury was in a sort of enclosed space like a drawer, the air could have enough mercury in it to turn a gold ring to a silver tone on the very surface, but that as this very tiny amount of mercury began to diffuse through the whole ring, the amount would be so low that the ring would turn back gold again. There seems to be some anecdotal evidence that this has happened to people, but I don't know about any actual research on the subject.

Regards,

A. Hi, Julie. I'd hunt hard for a jeweler who will fix it since dealing with jewelry problems is their specialty. But if you can't find one, avoid the thermal shock of dropping a diamond into boiling liquid; hang it in the pot while the liquid is still cold.

Plain water won't work well if at all; I have no personal experience with coconut oil, but many readers have reported that it works.

Regards,

A. Hey, Ted, coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] really works. Folks try it out. Your broken hearts will be repaired.

A. Hey Ted, the coconut trick works so does the potato. I'm a prospector and have used mercury for amalgamating my gold. Also with small amounts heating works just need a mask with chemical filters. So good luck to everyone with ruined rings just roast them or boil them in coconut.

Hi,

When I was a boy lots of kids played with mercury quite a bit, so it's clearly not universally deadly. At the other extreme, the phrase "Mad Hatter" derived from the fact that hatters who used to work extensively with mercury would get mercury poisoning. Dangers are all relative. All loose mercury should be cleaned up so it does not emit mercury vapors, and your mother should know that mercury exposure is bad for you, and should mend her ways, especially with small children around. Beyond that, some people would urge you to hire a specialist to decontaminate the house, but based on how much mercury I've seen, personally I wouldn't pay for professional decontamination. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi, Mike. As you can see, we have been unable to locate any jewelers offering the restoration service. You could try boiling it in coconut oil, the sooner the better.

Regards,

A. Just had my wife's gold rings restored to as new state by a jewelry polishing business who used a sulfuric acid solution to remove the mercury stains before polishing the rings back to original condition. It worked perfectly.

A. I have had the mercury from my 3 rings removed by the London assay office. After breaking a thermometer and my rings first turning silver then dull gold. I asked advice from a jeweler and he said nothing could be done. I called my insurance company for help and they said that they would send in a assessor to quote replacing the rings. As I have had my wedding ring for 40 years this June I just wanted them free of mercury.Someone else suggested the Assay office in London have a lab and they may be able to help. A phone call to them confirmed for a small fee they would burn off the mercury I posted the rings to them and to day I had a phone call to say that the rings have successfully been decontaminated, I paid them by card over the phone and anticipate their return to me ASAP...

A. I note a number of people have highlighted the toxic nature of mercury. Whilst it is not ideal to inhale mercury vapor, I feel the need to highlight that the UK government, plus others, are quite happy to still use mercury for dental fillings.

Finally mercury is found in fish. A food we are encouraged to eat.

All in all, this does suggest that very low doses of mercury cause little harm.

Coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] boiling works to remove mercury from gold, thanks for advice, people.

Thanks for the advice. My wife had spilled mercury from broken thermometer on her gold bangles. Heating the jewelry in coconut oil has worked.

Thank god, coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] worked to remove mercury from my favorite ring.. today I spilled mercury from blood pressure operator on it.. thanks for advice, god bless you people...

After nearly selling my rings for scrap after they came in contact with mercury, I decided to try the coconut oil. it worked! the yellow gold came back, (though it is a bit dull).

Thanks to the Internet and Parachute coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] .
We get rid of the problem by boiling the ring in the oil.
This saved a day of miserable happening. Thanks a lot .

Heating the gold ring with coconut oil really works out; I have done and I am very happy now ... ha ha aha

A. 1. boil with coconut oil ... it works!!
Spread the coconut oil over the ring and then burn it over the stove!!
or
2.dip the ring into nitric acid.

Thank you all...

Boiling in coconut oil [on eBay or Amazon] removed mercury splashes on gold.

It's awesome.

Nice, thanks all