How much silver is in 925 sterling silver?
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You will undoubtedly want to understand the distinction between pure silver and 925 sterling silver if you're thinking about purchasing sterling silver jewellery. In reality, pure silver is not created entirely of silver. 99.9% of it is silver, with the remaining 0.1% made up of other metals like copper.
Contrarily, 92.5% of the weight of sterling silver is made up of silver, with the remainder being largely copper. Because of this, 925 Sterling Silver—or just Silver—is a common abbreviation for sterling silver.
Due to its softness and malleability, pure silver is exceedingly difficult to work into beautiful forms, which is why it must be mixed with other metals. There must be some toughness.
The reason silver needs to be combined with other metals is that it is very difficult to make great designs with just pure silver, which is very soft and malleable. A bit of hardness has to be introduced, by adding other metals such as copper. That’s why jewelers are capable of making the most intricate and complex designs with 925 Sterling Silver.
Sterling Silver Value and Difference Between Sterling Silver, Gold and Platinum
Sterling silver value
While sterling silver can be placed at number four in the list of expensive jewelry metals starting from top as the most precious metal that can be used in jewelry making, to the least expensive of them all, the value of sterling silver still makes it expensive.
This is because while conducting a comparison of more than one metal, the value of sterling silver might seem less but it is actually ‘comparatively less’. Therefore, when you consider sterling silver value on an independent basis without any comparisons, you will notice how valuable and expensive sterling silver can be.
Other than the famous standard of valuing sterling silver on the basis of its quality for being 92.5% pure silver mixed with 7.5% of another metal, there are a few other things that add to the value of sterling silver. We have briefly described all 4 of these factors here.
925 Sterling Silver jewelry certainly does not come cheap.
It requires quite an investment from your side, whether you are buying a sterling silver pendant or a necklace. But it is a worthwhile investment as its value increases with time. What is very important though is not to be duped into buying fake 925 sterling silver jewelry.
This is a serious issue because many jewelers are known to sell fake sterling silver necklaces, rings, earrings and so on. Sterling silver is much cheaper than costlier metals such as gold, and yet, fake imitations of sterling silver jewelry are sold in the market.
For instance, it is common to come across silver plated jewelries that are sold as real sterling silver jewelries. Just jewelries have only a minimal silver content and are bound to deteriorate, sooner than later.
That is why, knowing how to identify real 925 sterling silver from the fake ones will be of a great help to you and save you from much pain later.
1 comment
I am on esty.com trying to find me a pure sterling silver necklace. It says .925 how do I know if that’s fake or real? Thank you.