Description

Blue Flower Charm Bracelet

Using sterling silver and frosted blue agate beads to create this stunning Blue Flower Charm Bracelet

Why not check out more of our bracelets here

https://lunajewellerydesigns.co.uk/shop/

STERLING SILVER VS SILVER: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Silver items have long been known as symbols of wealth. This is true whether you own sterling silver or pure silver, since most times you can’t tell the status of the silver at a quick glance.

But let’s look into how these two materials do differ, shall we?

PURE SILVER

Silver is one of the elements on the periodic table with the symbol Ag.

CHEMICAL MAKEUP

Any item described as pure silver, or also as fine silver, are as purely silver as you can get: it’s made of 99.9% pure elemental silver.

It will contain very few trace elements (only 0.01%), but it’s essentially pure silver (hence the name).

USES FOR SILVER

Pure silver is quite soft and difficult to shape properly, which makes it hard to use to make items that require daily use or specific shapes. Because of this, pure silver is not generally used to make fine and delicate jewellery items.

This softness also means that fine silver items aren’t as durable. They can be easily bent, made misshapen, or damaged, which is why fine silver is mostly reserved to make fine jewellery.

TARNISH

Silver can also tarnish. This means that the gasses in the air react with silver, which causes discolouring, fading, and what looks like a “dirty” layer on the top of silver products.

STAMP

Fine silver is also usually stamped with a marker to indicate that it is indeed fine silver. This stamp is usually “999” or “.999” or “99.9” to indicate that it is 99.9% silver, as fine silver must be to be considered fine silver.

Sterling Silver

If pure silver, aka fine silver, is as pure as you can get, it makes sense that sterling silver isn’t quite as pure, although it’s close.

CHEMICAL MAKEUP

Sterling silver is what’s known as a metal alloy. This means that sterling silver is a combination of metals instead of just one single metal (like with pure silver, for example). Sterling silver is92.5% silver and 7.5% alloy. This 7.5% is usually made of copper or zinc.

 

 

have a look at the history of Sterling Silver

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_silver#:~:text=Norman%20silver%20pennies%20changed%20designs%20every%20three%20years.,in%20the%20area%20that%20is%20now%20northern%20Germany.