All about sterling silver
What is sterling silver?Back to top
Sterling silver, or 925 Silver as it is sometimes known, is an alloy consisting of 92.5% silver combined with 7.5% of another metal (usually copper but germanium, zinc and platinum are also sometimes used) in order to make it harder and make it more suitable for jewellery making.
Why not use pure silver?Back to top
Pure silver, like pure gold is very soft - hence all those movies with people biting on coins to test if they’re real. This makes it not very suitable for making jewellery, as it would tend to change shape with handling over time. Sterling silver retains the shine and beauty of pure silver, whilst being hard enough to retain its shape and when formed into objects for wear or everyday use. This makes it very popular for jewellery, cutlery and other decorative purposes. There is an increasing interest in using pure silver in jewellery, this is usually referred to as "fine" silver.
For more advice on how to tell if your silver item is real look here
What is the origin of the term Sterling Silver?Back to top
Silver had been used and valued almost since the beginning of recorded human history. Sterling silver as well has been around for long enough that its origins have been lost to the mists of time. It appears to have been first produced sometime around the beginning of the 12th Century in western Europe and became popular for coin making due to its superior quality (if you think about it, it's vitally important that coins keep their shape and markings and do not wear down with use). King Henry II introduced the metal to England in 1158 to make silver pennies (Well that's inflation for you - they can now sell for up to £250!). One theory for the origin of the term "sterling" is that the metal workers who were brought in to make the silver for these new coins came from a part of modern-day Germany, then known as the "Easterling". This became shortened to "Sterling" and hence "sterling silver". Another, less plausible theory is that "sterling" is a corruption of the bird "starling", which was to be found in the background of some old English coins (this is less believable because we don't think that starlings were called starlings at that point in time).
Is all sterling silver hallmarked?Back to top
As time went by, standards dropped and there was always the temptation to add in other metals to make the silver go further - debasing the coinage. The hallmarking process was started to try and avoid this - King Edward I created a law stating that all silver items should be assayed and then stamped with a mark to certify its purity. This was initially done by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London, who continue to do this work today at the London Assay Office.Of course the rule of law in those days was not what it is now and you will find many antique silver items that have not been hallmarked. The current system of hallmarking was established in 1973 and items made before 1975 are exempt, as are items containing less than 7.78 grams of silver.
How valuable is sterling silver?Back to top
Unlike gold, silver is less often held as an investment. It also has significant uses - previously a lot of silver was used to make photographic film. Even today small amounts of silver are used in many electrical devices, medicines and even woven into clothing for its antibacterial properties. So the price of silver tends to fluctuate based on industrial supply and demand, rather than domestic. This means that the value of an item of silver jewellery, whilst it does have intrinsic value (when this was first written in 2009, the spot silver price was £8.81 per troy ounce - about 31.1 grams), comes more from the design and craftmanship, than from the weight of the metal. However thanks to the financial crisis and credit crunch, this is less and less true - if cash is at risk of losing its value, traditionally people would invest in precious metals, such as silver and today (September 2011) the price of silver has reached a massive £42.01 per troy ounce! This means that silver jewellery is becoming more and more valuable and may make a great investment, whatever happens to the economy.
