Single phase alloys with 30 percent gold by atomic weight and with different proportions of silver, copper, and zinc as additional alloying elements have been investigated with regard to selective dissolution. Measurements of rest potentials and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis show that copper and zinc are preferentially dissolved in aqueous solutions of chloride and small concentrations of sulfides leaving behind a surface significantly enriched in gold with a thickness of approximately one nanometer. No significant selective dissolution of silver was observed in the solutions investigated. Only alloys containing substantial amounts of silver tended to become tarnished in sulfur-containing solutions. It is suggested that Ag₂S is more easily formed than sulfide of copper and zinc because other oxidative reactions to oxides/ hydroxides of these elements take place, which is not the case for silver. These oxides/hydroxides of copper and zinc dissolve into the solution creating a gold-surface enrichment also in the diluted sulfide-containing solutions. -- AATA