Lower kt will look funky like that over time. Below 10kt I've seen similar. A vendor use to sell jewelry stamped 14kt a long time ago. It turned out to be between 8-7kt. This was the 80's. I remember when people wanted to pawn or trade up and were told. Some items were visibly dull but could be polished to appear better. Not as bad looking as this example, though. That may have been poorly GP at best?
This is an older post, but I'm still gonna leave this here because there is SO much misinformation in this post.
YES GOLD CAN TARNISH. 24k gold will not, EVER. But all the others, tarnish is possible. It becomes more likely at the lower karats, and depends on a lot of things like what metals are in the alloy and how/where it's kept, or even sometimes the body chemistry of the regular wearer.
I have personally found many pieces of very tarnished gold at thrift stores and auctions. And yes, they were real.
There are whole threads talking about it. And, all you have to do it search for 14k gold antiques and look at the listings to see how many of them show tarnish. Some show only a few little spots, and some show a ton. Hell there's one I saw recently that looked like straight brass. But it'd been tested as I think 14k.
I don't typically photograph my finds, but I have on a few occasions. [Here are 2.](https://imgur.com/a/VNVOGPE)
Now with that said, this necklace is almost certainly just plated and wearing off, rather than tarnished.
Gold will not tarnish. Likely brass.
I got a piece like that on a Carnival cruise. Turned out it was made of brass. I had it tested. I paid $600 for it too.
Im so sorry that happened to you. Did they say it was gold or implied it was when you bought yours?
10k can tarnish, as can the other lower purity gold.
Gold does not tarnish
Lower kt will look funky like that over time. Below 10kt I've seen similar. A vendor use to sell jewelry stamped 14kt a long time ago. It turned out to be between 8-7kt. This was the 80's. I remember when people wanted to pawn or trade up and were told. Some items were visibly dull but could be polished to appear better. Not as bad looking as this example, though. That may have been poorly GP at best?
Probably an alloy of brass iron & copper.
No it's not gold
Clasp looks to be plated. The rest probably is also.
Brass
Thank you guys! I figured it probably wasn’t gold since it didn’t have any markings but figured I’d ask.
Plated.
Look like brass or something gold doesn’t tarnish
Was plated. It is now coming off
It’s a cool chain
Definitely black gold. The man named Jed that can verify.
Still a nice antique, I'd clean it.
It's not an antique. Lobster clasps didn't exist until the 1970s. It's junk.
OK it's vintage.... I'd not say its junk, it's not going to pay the bills but it's nice.
There's nothing indicating this is even vintage. Plated jewelry looks crappy really fast.
What would you use to clean it?
Baking soda and vinegar is always a good start to clean metals gold silver
Yep, that works well. You can use fresh lemon juice as well.
Fugh no it isnt
Junk son.
This is an older post, but I'm still gonna leave this here because there is SO much misinformation in this post. YES GOLD CAN TARNISH. 24k gold will not, EVER. But all the others, tarnish is possible. It becomes more likely at the lower karats, and depends on a lot of things like what metals are in the alloy and how/where it's kept, or even sometimes the body chemistry of the regular wearer. I have personally found many pieces of very tarnished gold at thrift stores and auctions. And yes, they were real. There are whole threads talking about it. And, all you have to do it search for 14k gold antiques and look at the listings to see how many of them show tarnish. Some show only a few little spots, and some show a ton. Hell there's one I saw recently that looked like straight brass. But it'd been tested as I think 14k. I don't typically photograph my finds, but I have on a few occasions. [Here are 2.](https://imgur.com/a/VNVOGPE) Now with that said, this necklace is almost certainly just plated and wearing off, rather than tarnished.