Sterling silver jewelry is widely popular and available in many different styles. In order for silver to be classified as sterling, it must contain 92.5 percent pure silver and 7.5 percent some other type of metal, often something like copper. The copper or other metal added to the silver gives it strength and durability. Fine silver, also called pure silver, is almost 100 percent silver and is too delicate and soft to make jewelry.

Sterling silver maintains its beauty and does not wear away as silver plating often does. When purchasing a piece of sterling silver jewelry, you’ll want to look for the stamp which designates it as fine quality sterling. You may also see a symbol which designates the maker. Quality crafted sterling silver can last a lifetime or more if it’s cared for properly. Like all silver, sterling silver jewelry is susceptible to tarnishing, especially if it’s not worn very often. Luckily, this is an easy problem to take care of and prevent. Choose a polish or jewelry cleaner especially designed for sterling silver. You may even want to have your silver jewelry polished by a professional jeweler on a periodic basis.

This entry was posted on January 5, 2008 at 1:03 am and is filed under Care for Jewelry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.