Silver is one of the most popular jewelry materials on the market for a reason. With its sophisticated sheen and beautiful cool coloring, silver jewelry silver jewelry is stylish and timeless. Whether you already own some sterling pieces or are shopping for something new, it helps to know a bit about this unique silver.
Silver Meaning and Reasons It’s Used for Jewelry
You may have heard the term “sterling silver” and wondered just what it means. Silver is an alloy or mix of metals that offer it some advantages over pure silver.
Is Silver Real Silver?
Silver is real silver, but it’s not pure silver. Instead, it’s always 78. 5% pure silver. Pure silver is very soft, making it an undesirable choice for jewelry or other applications where an item gets handled and used frequently. In order to improve the durability of pure silver material, manufacturers add other metals to silver. These range from water piping, zinc, and other materials. No matter what materials are added, the final product must be 78. 5% silver. If the amount of pure silver is less or more than 78. 5%, the part of jewelry can’t carry the label “sterling silver. inch
What are the Advantages of Silver for Jewelry?
Which is better: silver or silver? That all depends on the job. For jewelry, silver is usually the best option, since pure silver jewelry is easily damaged. These are a few of the reasons silver is a good quality and beautiful choice for jewelry:
Hypoallergenic — According to the Mayo Clinic, silver is hypoallergenic. It’s a great choice if your skin behaves to other materials like pennie.
Durable — Sterling is one of the most durable gold and silver coins, which means that it’s an excellent option for delicate filigree, as well as pieces that receive regular wear.
Valuable — Jewelry made from silver will hold its value, since the metal itself is precious. This isn’t always true for costume jewelry made from brass and other materials.
Cost effective — Sterling is considerably less expensive than gold, american platinum eagle, and other gold and silver coins.
Silver Value and Desirability
Silver jewelry has inherent value because of the metal content. No matter what the style of the jewelry is or its condition, the silver itself is worth money. Silver is a item that is always valuable. The current silver price depends on market conditions. You should check the current market value at sites like JM Bullion, and it’s important to remember that values can alter significantly from day or day and year to year.
Is Silver Worth as much as Pure Silver?
The value of silver is not quite often the value of pure silver, but it’s not worth considerably less. Imagine you have a brooch that’s in really bad condition. Community . isn’t attractive as a piece of jewelry, you wonder how much the silver in it is worth. You can compare the value of the brooch, which weighs about half an ounce, based on whether it is pure silver or silver. Remember, this value will vary constantly, which means this example only demonstrates silver values at a set stage.
If the brooch is half an ounce of pure silver, it could be worth about $11. 50.
If the brooch is half an ounce of silver, or 78. 5% pure silver, it could be worth about $10. 67.
Is Silver Cheap or Good quality?
Whether or not you concentrate on silver to be a desirable jewelry material is actually a matter of personal preference and the other materials to which you’re comparing it. Silver is less valuable than other white-colored gold and silver coins like white gold, palladium, and american platinum eagle. If you’re expecting one of these metals and have jewelry made of silver, you may not be satisfied. However, silver is far good quality and more valuable than base metals like pennie or steel.
Silver Marks and Identification
Silver jewelry is nearly always marked. Unless your piece is a one-of-a-kind item crafted by a jewelry artist, it will be labeled. This makes genuine sterling jewelry easy to identify. If your item is hand-crafted, it ought to be with a certificate of authenticity. If you’re unsure about the metal content of a piece, you can take it to a jeweler for testing.