Sterling Silver Buyer’s Guide

One of man's greatest fears is that of the unknown. Stepping into a situation that you are uncomfortable with or have little knowledge of can be troubling. For many, this is true when buying jewelry. With the rise in popularity and value of silver jewelry, it is important to be educated when you decide to make a purchase whether that purchase is online or in a store.

What many buyers don't know is that there are many different categories of 'silver' jewelry. In this must read guide, we will focus on four types, sterling silver, silver plated, alpaca silver and silver tone.

STERLING SILVER

As a general rule, the most coveted silver jewelry is Sterling Silver. It is considered 'fine jewelry'. Genuine sterling silver will be marked .925 in most cases. However, sometimes there are other hallmarks using part of the 'Sterling Silver' words. In Europe and some other nations, the mark can be a symbol or image. Many manufacturers of sterling silver even use their own unique mark. Sterling silver is especially good for people with sensitive skin, because lower quality silver jewelry can leave a rash on your skin. However, because of it's high quality, it can lose it's shine and luster. So, we recommend that you take good care of this valuable purchase. You needn't worry to much about this because it is very easy to clean. Sterling silver is made of 92.5% silver and the remainder is copper. It is the purest silver jewelry you can own.

SILVER PLATED

The next level of silver jewelry is silver plated jewelry. It is NOT real silver and a much lower quality than sterling silver. Often times, silver plated jewelry is referred to as costume jewelry. It usually has no distinctive mark like sterling silver buy can sometimes be marked SP or EP (silver plated or electro plated). Rarely is silver plated jewelry worth its retail price. Many times it can contain as little as five to ten percent actual sivler. Also worth noting is that the silver plating can wear out and the material underneath can show through.

ALPACA SILVER

Alpaca Silver is also considered a costume jewelry. It consists of a variety of metals, has a silver color, but rarely has any silver in it. This type of jewelry can sometimes be plated with sterling silver for easy cleaning but has far less value and still can leave a rash.

SILVER TONE

Silver Tone is simply a silver color metal. Like the other two inferior examples, it is also considered costume jewelry. Quality of silver tone jewelry varies widely. Because of the wide variety of quality you can receive with silver tone jewelry, it is a gamble just to purchase it. Often times, you won't know how good or how bad it is until you have owned it for several weeks.

The end result is that sterling silver is the highest quality silver jewelry available and, in our opinion, is the only silver jewelry worth owning. It's value will continue to rise. It is easy to clean, and with the proper care, it will always look great.

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