I “splurged” and bought myself some sterling silver earrings (from Amazon) for my birthday. They tested positive for Mercury and Arsenic — yet NO SILVER AT ALL!

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Here’s a screenshot of the full listing for these on Amazon (you can click it to see it “in the wild.” BUT DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!

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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

 

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“A little splurge for my birthday” …

For context, I want to say that, as a low-income mother of disabled kids, I NEVER (almost never?) buy anything for myself at all, unless it is extremely urgent (like buying a pair of pants, after all my pants have been thrown in the trash because they are beyond repair)! So I was already feeling slightly “guilty” when I decided to uncharacteristically “splurge” for my 52nd birthday (coming up on Saturday), and spend a tiny bit of money on a gift for myself this year… I bought myself two pairs of earrings on Amazon — each for under $10.00. (So a splurge is decidedly contextually relative!)

Each of these sets of earrings was clearly advertised on Amazon as being “925 Sterling Silver,” which I had no reason to question — since they are very small, and Silver is relatively cheap, I assumed that these small light-weight earrings were inexpensive because all of the metal components combined couldn’t amount to much total Silver by weight (but given the explicit claim, I did assume the amount of Silver would be more than… ZERO!).

But — of course — being me (a fact I cannot ever escape, try walking in my shoes for a day, lol!), as soon as these arrived I had to whip out my XRF instrument and test them… (I REALLY, TRULY was hoping they would ACTUALLY be solid 925 Silver, as advertised, and I would be able to [as a first] recommend a specific pair of earrings that I had purchased on Amazon.)

This was not to be.

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What’s wrong with these earrings, specifically?

1. When I tested these earrings (pictures above and below) they were 100% DEVOID OF ANY SILVER!
2. The listing also clearly states that they are “Platinum-plated” and at this point, you will likely not be surprised to learn that they were also COMPLETELY DEVOID OF ANY TRACE OF PLATINUM.
3. They also stated that they are Lead — and Cadmium-free and even though my test results noted below (three examples of full sets of readings for these earrings are below) do not show any Cadmium or Lead, several of the additional test sets I ran on this pair of earrings did detect trace Lead and Cadmium in the earrings. [With items this small, it is difficult-to-impossible to reliably re-position them within the hand-held instrument’s X-Ray testing “field” to consistently repeat the exact detection readings for trace levels below 40 ppm on each component.]
4. The listing also says they are “Nickel-free” — also 100% not true. Every single test on each component of the earrings was positive for Nickel.
5. The listing says they are “stamped 925 Silver” — and I could not find a stamp anywhere on them – even with the magnifying capabilities of the camera on my phone [but I will have my eagle-eyed kids double-check for me when they come home from school.]
6. And FINALLY – last but in no way least… VIRTUALLY EVERY READING showed that the metal components of the earrings were positive for BOTH ARSENIC AND MERCURY (at varying levels.)

Please check out the full XRF readings for the earrings pictured – below:

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Reading #1) chain threader component if these earrings:
60-second reading
Red lines below are potentially toxic metals found in these earrings

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): 269 +/- 23 ppm
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Iron (Fe): 27 +/- 9 ppm
• Nickel (Ni): 9,498 +/- 89 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 94,900 +/- 800 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 5,735 +/- 77 ppm
• Arsenic (As): 30 +/- 4 ppm
• Selenium (Se): 190 +/- 15 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 690 +/- 14 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 26 +/- 8 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 112 +/- 31 ppm
• Bismuth (Bi): 22 +/- 5 ppm

Reading #2) backing on the stone in these earrings:
60-second reading
Red lines below are potentially toxic metals found in these earrings

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): 1098 +/- 29 ppm
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): 25 +/- 13 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 35 +/- 8 ppm
• Nickel (Ni): 3,990 +/- 39 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 90,600 +/- 800 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 29,200 +/- 300 ppm
• Arsenic (As): 247 +/- 5 ppm
• Selenium (Se): 1,560 +/- 24 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 477 +/- 12 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 19 +/- 9 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 121 +/- 32 ppm
• Bismuth (Bi): 108 +/- 5 ppm

Reading #3) Threader bars of the earrings:
30-second reading
Red lines below are potentially toxic metals found in these earrings

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): 610 +/- 50 ppm
• Bromine (Br): non-detect
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Iron (Fe): 100 +/- 17 ppm
• Nickel (Ni): 8,990 +/- 140 ppm
• Copper (Cu): 115,500 +/- 1,700 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 19,100 +/- 300 ppm
• Arsenic (As): 151 +/- 9 ppm
• Selenium (Se): 944 +/- 37 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 701 +/- 24 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 24 +/- 14 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 136 +/- 52 ppm
• Bismuth (Bi): 70 +/- 9 ppm

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Important note for the readings above:

• The totals of any reading for any object should (in theory) equal 1,000,000 as “one million parts per million” equals a whole thing (all the parts).
• However, because these particular objects are so tiny (so much smaller than the scope / testing window of the XRF instrument), the aggregate total of all the levels (for all detected metals, combined) is much smaller than 1,000,000. [The numbers are low / diluted because of the background of the testing area which is always a metals-free background for any small objects I test… normally I use a wood or fabric metals free background to test jewelry.]
• As a result, it is reasonable to extrapolate that if a larger, solid uninterrupted span of the metal substrate substance of these earrings was tested – say a flat piece of the metal, the size of a dime, without any holes through it –  the ppm results for each element found would much higher than shown in the readings above.
• For example, the Nickel readings above are probably indicative of actual Nickel levels in the 80,000 to 90,000 ppm range [which is a common Nickel level for composite metals.] This would be closer to a number we would see were a solid larger (dime sized) piece of this substrate material to be tested.

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Takeaway (and general advice)

• If you are in the market for Sterling Silver jewelry, be advised to buy from a known reputable source — or a brick-and-mortar store, where you can see the 925 stamp yourself before purchasing the item.
• Also, avoid costume jewelry (i.e. non-precious metals and rhinestones)
• To see more examples of the jewelry I have tested (both old/vintage/antique, and new) click here.
• Here’s a link to my Jewelry article about how to make safer jewelry choices for your family — but I will have to update you with a caveat/warning concerning “Sterling Silver” purchased on Amazon!

As always, thank you for reading, and for sharing these articles. Amazon links may be affiliate links and if you purchase something after clicking on a Lead Safe Mama affiliate link we may receive a percentage of what you spend (at no extra cost to you). [If you click through to the listing for this specific set of earrings however, please do NOT buy THEM! Thank you.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

P.S. After I wrote this I went on Amazon and bought another set of similar earrings from a different vendor and plan on testing those shortly. Hopefully they end up being real Silver! Here’s my affiliate link for those. Stand by for the test results!

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Below is a screenshot of the claims for the earrings pictured in this article.
Continue reading below the image…

 

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Below are some additional images of the earrings discussed in this article and the packaging they came in.