Will a Silver-Plated Pool Cue Tarnish Over Time?
6/15/2021 8:39:02 PM
Will a Silver-Plated Pool Cue Tarnish Over Time?
In time, will the silver on a silver-plated pool cue tarnish to a shiny gold or a dull blackish color?
Will a Silver-Plated Pool Cue Tarnish Over Time?
Replies & Comments
billiardsforum on 6/16/2021 3:48:38 AMAre we talking about actual silver? What cue, specifically?
I assume you are talking about the Silver Meucci MS-4 cue you posted about a while back?
But to answer your question, I think it all depends on the purity of the silver, whether it's solid silver or just silver plated, and how well it is taken care of over time.
From a jeweler's website:
Sterling Silver
Sterling silver consists of 92.5% silver, and the remaining part is copper, hence the common name "925 Sterling Silver" or just "925 Silver". Silver must be combined with other metals as just pure silver is too soft and malleable. A bit of hardness must be introduced by adding other metals such as copper or brass.
Pure silver is not susceptible to tarnish in a pure oxygen environment. However, the copper that is present in 925 sterling silver may react to the ozone and hydrogen sulfide in the air and cause sterling silver to tarnish. Perfumes, hair sprays, and profuse sweating can also cause a quicker formation of tarnish.
You won't be able to 100% prevent tarnish from forming, but with proper care you can significantly delay the formation of tarnish.
Silver-Plated
Silver plated items are made from a thin coating of pure silver over other metals. When the coating of silver flakes or scrapes off, the base metal underneath is revealed.
All silver-plated jewelry will tarnish at some point, as the chemicals from daily wear and the exposed layer of silver react with air to change the color of a piece. Silver-plated jewelry has a thin layer of silver that covers a base metal, often brass. Because the coating is thin on the base, cleaning needs to be careful but complete to keep up an item's shine.
user1595209202 on 6/16/2021 6:27:47 AM
Yes the Meucci gold lock and key cue.
A man on another site told me that it isn't a gold plated cue it was a silver-plated one, due to the age and that the shiny gold looking plating was silver that had tarnished to that color. The plating is shiny gold and not pitted or uneven in its gold color on any of the plating. I thought silver plating dulled with tarnish and wouldn't have a shiny gold color like my stick has.
I hope I am right and he just "reading" the cue wrong.
- billiardsforum on 6/16/2021 9:25:58 AM
If I were you, I'd take whatever anyone says about that cue with a grain of salt unless they've see that particular cue in person.
Honestly, photos shared on the internet of cues are generally horrible (no offence to you personally). I've photographed thousands of cues over the years, and looked at hundreds of thousands of cue images. A very slight lighting difference can make parts of the cue, depending on materials, look completely different.
On top of that, when you upload photos to eBay, Craigslist, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, they run compression algorithms on them which severely reduce the quality of the image (to reduce file size and save space).
If you think you might have one of the few of that model cue made with actual precious metals (whether it be gold, silver, or gold-plating/silver-plating), you'll have to probably have someone look at it in person.
There must be a non-obtrusive way to test a material like that to see if it's silver, but I am not knowledgeable enough in that area to know one way or another.
On that note, I may be out of the loop on the "early rare versions" of the "lock and key" cues from Meucci, so correct me if I'm wrong—but didn't the "precious metals" versions have a "Meucci Originals" logo on a "hoppe ring" (vs. the modern Meucci logo that is on yours)? I have photos of one that was for sale by a reputable cue dealer back in 2013, and that's what it had. I've also seen HD video of a white/gold version, and it too had the "Meucci Originals" logo.
I wish you the best of luck in identifying it (one way or another) once and for all!
UPDATE: after typing all that, I just now realized that the photos in the other question you had replied to aren't yours, but rather, they're they original poster's (at first I looked quickly and thought they had been posted by you). I guess there's no point in discussing further without seeing what cue you're holding.
Yes, mine has a Meucci Originals logo printed on the bottom of the butt. Meucci changed their name in the 1980s or 1990s to just "Meucci".
The plating on my cue doesn't look tarnished to me. It's too even of a color plus silver doesn't tarnish to a shiny gold!
Thanks for your input. The cue stick was sold to a man and he, after getting it, is saying it isn't a gold version, but rather, a silver. Silver tarnishes to a dull blackish, not a uniform shiny-colored gold! That's my position.
Will a Silver-Plated Pool Cue Tarnish Over Time?
- Title: Will a Silver-Plated Pool Cue Tarnish Over Time?
- Author: user1595209202
- Published: 6/15/2021 8:39:02 PM
- Last Updated: 6/16/2021 3:46:55 AM
- Last Updated By: billiardsforum (Billiards Forum)
