I have my late grandpa's silver spoon attached to my fridge with a neodymium magnet. What kind of chemical reaction causes that discolouration?
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
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Sulfur causes that effect on silver, and it can happen slowly when exposed to humid air.
You can magically fix it by boiling water (must be boiling) then placing a sheet of aluminium foil in a container, placing the spoon on top of the foil making direct contact, them sprinkling some salt or sodium bicarbonate and pouring the boiling water on top. You'll see it start bubbling, and the bubbles will smell like rotten eggs.
Leave for fifteen minutes, you're done. But again, boiling water, this reaction requires a lot of energy and warm water won't even start it.
Did this recently with our silver. Worked fine with hot water (I used our kettle), just took a little longer. And I added the salt after the water and it still worked fine. But it's definitely one of those things where basic science feels like witchcraft when you do it lol
We had a plastic box with a plastic grid insert. We put the aluminum foil at the bottom, the grid on top of it to separate it from the silver, and added hot salt water. The cutlery needs to be moved around occasionally so every surface is treated evenly (and the water moves around).
Can confirm the sulphury smell, I usually did this out on the balcony.
And: the aluminum foil partially dissolves during this procedure, it looks like the moths got to it afterwards.
I remember seeing something, not unlike this in an episode of Mr. Wizard when I was a kid, lol