History of Silver Metal 

While most people know about Sterling Silver they don't necessarily know or interrogate what the grade of Silver is what it is made of.  This question comes up a lot so we thought we would take a stab at giving a little more background and information on the topic. The internet is flooded with frequently asked questions regarding silver, mainly about what is 925 silver, or how is 925 silver different from pure silver, and whether fine silver is more expensive than sterling silver. 

To clearly understand silver, one must know its roots. It is important to understand what exactly silver is and its properties before diving into the types of silver available today. 

Silver was mined somewhere around 3000 BC from land now called Southern Iraq. the metal was extracted from its natural form. The natural silver was entrapped by alloy metals such as lead and copper. 

With the help of a process called cupellation, where molten metal was heated to extremely high temperatures and strong air blew over it to oxidize copper and lead, unscathed pure silver emerged as the final product. The actual metallurgy process depends on the percentage of the main metal whether it comprises zinc, copper, or lead. 

Now that we understand silver in its purest form, we can delve a little deeper into understanding how Sterling Silver or 925 Silver as it is actually used in Jewellery came to be. 

The emergence of Sterling Silver 

A theory suggests that the use of the word sterling with silver metal dates back to the time when German coiners called Easterlings introduced Great Britain during the rule of Henry II to silver to better refine the coinage. However, sterling silver per se is used to describe silver alloys where silver is mixed with other metals such as copper or nickel to strengthen the metal. 

Pure silver also known as 999 silver as it contains 99.9% silver and just 0.1% of other impurities naturally found in metals is normally known to be more valuable than Sterling Silver based purely on its higher concentration of silver. At the same time it has much less use because it is thought to be too soft. Some electrical appliances may make use of higher purity silver because of its conductivity.

Due to the softness of pure Silver, its inability to keep a shape and low durability a modification needed to be made in order to make pure silver more usable in applications such as jewellery.

Introduce 925 silver which is the most widely used alloy of silver used in jewellery  today. The term is used to describe a metal alloy that is made 92.5% of silver and 7.5% of copper. Adding metal to pure silver increases its endurance and makes it harder and cheaper than sterling silver. It is this hardness that gives jewellery  its sturdiness and makes it robust. 

In summary this is why 925 silver is the preferred subtype of silver metal used in making jewellery . These properties of sterling silver gives it superiority over pure silver when it comes to making jewellery . In addition to this, alloys also give silver subtle shades of color that make it more valuable amongst consumers. 

Checking for authentic silver

You can easily get confused if you do not have enough knowledge of genuine metal when buying jewellery . Apart from the fact that it is illegal to sell silver without a stamp of its silver content like 925 or 999 on the metal, there are several other ways to find out whether the metal is authentic or not. 

Such methods include magnet and rubbing test where you put silver next to the magnet and see if it attracts. Remember that pure silver does not attract a magnet. You may also rub silver with a cloth and see if it tarnishes. The pure metal is easy to tarnish. 

Final Word 

Sterling silver (925 grade) makes the finest quality jewellery  and it is best for you to go for 925 silver if you want it to last longer and pay more affordable prices.