Silver; 958 Britannia & 925 Sterling
What is silver?
Fine Silver (999): Fine Silver is 99.9% pure silver, Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag and atomic number 47. It is a soft, white, lustrous transition metal, which exhibits the highest reflectivity of any metal. It is stable to oxygen and water but dissolves in sulfuric and nitric acids. 999 Fine silver is used to make silver bullion and bars for investment purposes. It is too soft to be used in jewelry that is worn on a daily basis.
Silver is also hypoallergenic!
Pure silver is entirely hypoallergenic, however it is often too soft to use in jewelry. This is why silver alloys such as Britannia 958 and Sterling 925, mostly use copper as its alloy, as copper itself is also a hypoallergenic metal.
Silver alloys and markings
High quality silver is hallmarked with the percentage of silver content in the jewelry. The term hallmarked is reserved only for silver with a higher silver content in the alloy.
Britannia silver (958): Britannia silver is an alloy made of 95.8% silver, 4.2% copper or some other metal. This alloy is slightly softer than 925 sterling silver pieces, and is mostly used for handmade jewelry pieces.
Sterling silver (925): This is the standard alloy for mass manufactured silver jewelry. Which consists of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper or some other metal.
silver itmes that have a lower silver content are marked as follows.
Continental silver (800): Is 80% silver and 20% other metals. This alloy is mainly used for dinning utensils, most commonly known as silverware.
Silver plating: The silver content in silver plated items is minimal. The marking for silver plated items depends on the manufacturer. These items are made by electroplating a base metal with a relatively thin coating of silver. This process is mostly used for larger items such as statues and serving bowls.
Unfortunately…
There are cases of fraudulent markings, where jewelry pieces are marked and sold as silver but are not actually silver.
There are several ways to test whether or not an item has silver in it’s alloy; X-ray (XRF) gun, water specific gravity scale, nitric acid test or a simple magnet, just to name a few.
Alpaca silver, German silver or Nickel silver is a bit of a misnomer because “silver” describes the color of the metal and not the content. This is a base metal alloy consisting of primarily copper with nickel and/or zinc. This type of alloy is an inexpensive base metal that is similar in appearance to sterling but, again, it contains no real silver at all. It is used in costume jewelry but should be clearly described as a nickel alloy since many people are allergic to nickel. We also recommend selling nickel silver as a “white metal” because the term “alpaca silver” can be misleading for consumers.
