Silver Jewelry
There are many different names for silver jewellery on the
market today. So, what are all these types of silver and
what do they mean?
What is silver?
Silver is a metal which has been used for hundreds of years.
Silver is mined from many countries but the biggest
producers are Mexico, Peru and Australia.
Silver in its pure form, is normally considered too soft for
everyday use. Therefore, other metals are added to the pure
silver such as cooper.
The different types of “Silver”
Sterling silver is the main type of silver used in
jewellery, ornaments & dinnerware today. This is solid
silver. Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver
and 7.5% metal alloy.
Sterling silver is hallmarked as “925”.
Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver and is normally considered
too soft to use for most items. It is also solid silver.
Silver plating is common and sometimes dishonest sellers try
to pass this off as sterling silver. It’s also call
electroplated silver or silver coated as well. Silver plated
items are made using a base metal, normally brass or nickel,
which is then put through an electroplating process.
Electroplating is a process which adheres a very very thin
layer of pure silver onto the base metal.
The result is a sterling silver looking item at a much
reduced price. It may look like sterling silver but the
silver plating tends to wear off quite quickly exposing the
less than beautiful base metal.