What is sterling silver?
Sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver metal. Silver clasps should be marked with 925 to indicate they are sterling. Since pure silver is such a soft metal, findings and beads are made with 92.5% sterling (vs. 100% sterling) and mixed with a stronger metal to achieve the desired stability and hardness. The majority of sterling is made in Bali, India and Turkey. Silver colored beads and findings are less expensive but may also be less flexible, durable and may lose their finish over time.
Sterling silver is a silver alloy. Sterling silver contains 92.5% silver, with the remaining 7.5% being another metal, usually copper. The addition of the less costly metal – often called a base metal – serves to harden the resulting alloy so that the metal can be cast into shapes that it will retain with use.
Pure silver, like pure gold, is too soft for most uses and is often mixed with copper. Sterling silver is 925 parts fine silver and 75 parts copper, and is also known as .925. This alloy will tarnish, but the copper is necessary in jewelry like rings, brooches, necklaces, and other items that require metal with strength.
Sterling silver is by far the most popular silver alloy in the world for jewelry. Sterling silver (also called .925 silver) is an alloy consisting of 92.5 percent fine silver and 7.5 percent other metals (usually copper). Jewelry manufacturers use sterling silver because of its strength and durability – fine silver alone is too soft and too easily damaged to be used as jewelry. In the United States, an alloy must be at least 92.5 percent fine silver to be marketed as “silver”. All silver items in Makalas Jewelry Collection are .925 sterling silver. How Is Sterling Silver Jewelry Finished? Different silver jewelry items may be finished in different ways. For some items, the .925 sterling silver design is plated with a thin layer of .999 fine silver. This process is known as flashing, and it gives the item a shiny finish. Other silver items are rhodium plated, which again results in a bright, shiny finish. Other jewelry items may be gold plated or left unplated depending on the design. F
