Silver now a days...
Silver comes in many names and quality hallmarks it's good to know how to recognize them. Since I posted a new album of my sterling silver jewelry on my Facebook page I thought learning to identify the various silver names can eventually lead my readers and followers in smart jewelry buying.
So what is silver?
Silver is known from ancient times for its quality and its great properties as a metal. It has been used in jewelry making since ancient pharaoh times.
When silver is in its purest form found in nature 100% clean, it is too soft to be used. To make silver more durable and harder other metals are added. The most common metal used for jewelry, dinnerware and ornametation today is Sterling Silver.
Sterling Silver in its solid silver form is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.55% metal alloy, usually it's copper. Surprised, hence the hallmark of .925.
So how can you identify sterling silver?
One way to recognize sterling silver is to look for the hallmark or (stamping) on the back of rings and pendants, but if you are buying sterling silver jewelry pieces at a show and or there is not a hallmark or stamping use some of these tips I used them my self.
You never know, you could end up with a one of a kind artisan made jewelry piece.
Rub the piece of sterling against your skin this will usually leave a black mark on your skin. If it does it is real sterling silver if not then it is not sterling silver but a substitute.
Another way is by using a magnet, you might not always have this, but it is a good thing to know. If the magnet stick to the piece of jewelry it is a fake, Sterling silver is
not magnetic.
Then there is the "ping" test, for example if you have a sterling silver coin and drop it on a table it makes a dull thud sound. If it's anything other than silver it will emit a ping sound. But when it comes to jewelry I do not recommend this because you do not want to break a piece of jewelry.
One of the most common ways to make jewelry with a different metal look a like, is Silver Plating.
So what is silver plating?
Silver plating may look very similar to sterling silver but it can wear off pretty quickly. Sometimes sellers, who are not being honest with you try to pass it for silver.
Silver Plating is a very thin layer of silver that is added to a base metal. I call it a bath in sterling. If you are not careful in exposing the base metal it looses its beauty.
Mexican Silver has its name because it comes from Mexico. In order to be considered mexican silver it must contain 90% purity in silver.
Britannia Silver contains 95.84% pure silver.
Last and Newest in trend is a metal called Agentium Silver.
Agentium Silver is a modern Sterling silver alloy which modifies the traditional sterling silver (.925) by replacing the copper with a hypo-allergenic alloy called metalloid germanium, as it retains the (92.5) silver content of traditional alloy, it is still referred to as sterling silver.
Should I use this new Sterling Silver?
Please leave your comments below the article. I have been thinking about all those women out in the world that are allergic to different types of metals, my mother being one of them. Should I offer this to my customers, Let me know, please.
Until my next post here are some pic of my Sterling Silver Jewelry.
