Almost every person on this planet loves to own a piece of silver metal jewelry irrespective of the age, gender and nationality. Silver is an amazingly refreshing metal both for the eyes and the mind. However, there are so many different kinds of silver available in the market that it becomes a very daunting task for an amateur to choose an appropriate silver accessory without seeking advice from an expert. Thus, one must know a few important things about silver metal which includes its various kinds and their unique features, before making a purchase.
First of all, it is extremely essential to know what is silver. Silver has been in use for medicinal as well as body adorning purposes since the past hundreds of years. Traces of this bright and shiny metal are majorly found in the mines of Australia, Mexico and Peru. In its pure form, silver is not believed to be apt for jewelry making as it is too soft to be molded into various shapes. Considering that, many hard metals such as copper or lead are added to this metal to achieve the desired solidity. Silver, besides being used in jewelry, also acts as a great healing agent for wounds and skin diseases. In the earlier times, people used silver to heal injuries met in the wars or to treat skin diseases encountered due to allergies.
Next important thing to be aware about is the types of silver available in the market and how is each kind different from the other. As mentioned earlier, the pure form of silver which contains 99.9 percent metal is too soft to be used in silver jewelry making supplies thus, the principal form of silver used in making ornaments is known as sterling silver. It contains 92.5 percent of pure silver in combination with 7.5 percent of metal alloy that provides it the required hardness. The first authentication symbol of sterling silver is its hallmark which says “925”.
Another type of silver jewelry is created by coating a silver layer over a base metal to give the appearance of Silver from the exterior, however, it is not silver entirely. Silver plated jewelry is quite inexpensive as compared to sterling silver accessories. It also has a short life because the silver coating wears off soon after a few uses. And thus, it requires regular polishing and re-coating.
Many jewelers try to cheat the buyers by selling silver coated jewelry under the name of sterling silver. Thus, one must make sure to check for the hallmark sign before buying to avoid falling prey to such trickery.