What is the best quality silver? is a question you may be asking yourself if you’re just starting with silver jewelry. Silver tarnish, does it? And what is the difference between the many kinds of silver that are common to manufacture jewelry?
This article outlines the benefits, drawbacks, and characteristics of the silver sterling 925 jewelry and other standards so you can make an informed decision on your next purchase.
Types of Varieties Silver Standards
For thousands of years, silver is as a beautiful and sparkling metal, often even more valuable than gold. Even now, very little silver jewelry in antiquity consist of pure silver. In jewelry, silver is typically alloyed, or combined, with other metals.
An alloy made of base metals and silver is more robust and long-lasting than pure silver. Because these alloying metals are less costly and tougher than silver, an alloy with a higher silver content will be softer and cost more.
Fine Silver
This is the purest silver available for purchase. With 99.9% silver content, fine silver—also referred to as pure silver—is a hypoallergenic metal. The trace elements that make up the remaining 0.1% are typically copper. This metal cannot be referred to as fine silver if these trace components are more than 0.1%.
Although all forms of silver will ultimately tarnish, fine silver is more resistant to tarnish than alloys containing more copper, such as sterling silver.
925 Sterling Silver
The most common form of 925 sterling jewelry used to make jewelry is by far sterling silver. The alloy of sterling silver has a long history, having been useful for decorative goods and coin minting for over a millennium.
Traditionally made out of 7.5% copper and 92.5% pure silver, sterling silver is less expensive and tougher than pure silver alloys. The price you pay is that sterling silver tarnishes more easily due to the copper element.
Untarnished Silver
When we talk about silver alloys that are more resistant to tarnish than sterling and other forms of silver, we’re talking about non-tarnish silver.
But even though non-tarnish silver is widely sold, a genuinely tarnish-proof silver alloy has not yet been created. It would be more accurate to characterize today’s non-tarnish silver as tarnish-resistant.
Alloys resistant to tarnish are sterling grade, meaning they contain 92.5% silver or above. However, in contrast to conventional sterling, they replace a portion of the copper with other metals. One of the most useful metals useful is germanium, which is noted for its resistance to tarnish on silver.
Silver Britannia
Britannia silver is famous as an alloy containing a minimum of 95.83% pure silver. Copper is often the foundation metal that makes up the remaining amount.
In the seventeenth century, the Britannia standard was imposed as a legal requirement for all silver goods manufactured in England. The goal of the new regulation was to stop sterling silver coinage. They were of less silver—from melting down and turning into cutlery.
Silver Coin
Coin silver, which is 90% silver and 10% copper, originally took its name and composition from American silver coins. These coins would melt down, and silversmiths would utilize the metal to create Varieties of Silver and other items.
