Are These Blemishes on a Sterling Silver Savinelli?

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americaman

Part of the Furniture Now
May 1, 2019
943
3,101
Los Angeles, CA
I recently bought a new Savinelli Sterling Spigot pipe from a store. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL pipe. But when I turned it over, underneath on the band there was this dark grey blotch on the silver that almost looks like a lotto scratcher card after someone takes a key to it.
Is this a blemish, or is it completely normal on Sterling Silver? Do you think it's something that silver polish will remove> I really want to keep the pipe, but not if Savinelli sends them out of the factory like this. (The marking is above the 925 stamp, slightly to the right.)
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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
It does look like a defect or damage to me, not terrible but visible. I'd explore getting an exchange or repair, but depending on how much trouble it is, I'd look at it as an option, not necessarily a must-do. When you can shop in person, this is the reason to spend time with the pipe, really study it, from all angles and all the parts. I can see launching a complaint, and I can see just living with it, depending on how much you like the pipe as-is.

 
It looks like fire scale, where the metal was overheated or held at heat too long, which carbonizes the copper inside the metal. It cannot be sanded off or polished away because the damage is inside the metal. This has just slipped by their QC or someone has been doing some shoddy repair work. It really isn't that bad... but, I know that sometimes knowing it is there, even if you don't see it very often can ruin an item for some folks.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
It shouldn't happen at this price level, but that's a risk with factory pipes, where they're moving thousands of pipes a day.

 
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