How does sterling silver differ from silver plated?
Silver plated items are made from a very thin coating of pure silver over other metals. When the coating of silver flakes or scrapes off, the base metal underneath is revealed. Sterling silver, which contains much more silver, is an alloy (mixture) so it is bonded much more tightly to the other metals and does not flake off. Since it is a mixture instead of a coating, it will be a consistent color throughout the piece. So if it were to get scratched, the underlying color would be the same color as the outer layer and would be much less noticable than a scratch on a silver plated piece.
