How To Select Sterling Silver Jewelry

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

Want a more affordable jewelry? Choose silver over platinum or gold. You can find top quality sterling crafted into a variety of styles—and it’s not just affordable—it’s beautiful as well! Sterling silver is a natural material with long lasting appeal, and looks great on its own, or when mixed with gemstones or beads.

Sterling silver is 92.5% silver mixed generally includes copper while the other 7.5% of the composition. Sterling silver is sold by weight and there is no such thing as better silver or higher quality silver. All silvers that are 92.5% are the same in quality.

The difference in price from one piece and another that weigh the same amount is the type of work done on it. Usually handmade pieces are more expensive than machine made pieces. They are also more exclusive, a machine made piece is made by the thousands but one handmade piece can never be the same as another.

If the jewelry includes a gemstone, the price will vary based on the type of stone. Silver will change in pricing from the way the manufacturer processes it. Silver is a very manageable metal and beautiful pieces can be made out of it. Silver jewelry may be purchased by its weight in silver plus a small percentage for labor.

When you buy sterling silver jewelry and silver jewelry sets it is very shiny and smooth. Silver is much shinier than gold or platinum. With time it will begin to lose its shine and tarnish will appear. This is due to the metal alloy added to the silver. If the copper comes in contact with air and sweat it will have a tendency to change color. Many people like to keep their jewelry like that because it gives it an antique look.

The best care for your silver jewelry is to use a polishing cloth so you do not accidentally scratch the surface of the jewelry. It is okay to use siler cleaner occasionally but should not be used often in the maintenance of your jewelry. These types of cleaners are abrasive, and the shine they leave comes from rubbing of the patina or top layer of silver on your piece.

If silver jewelry is cleaned and polished regularly, it will remain beautifully shiny for quite some time. Abrasive cleaners should only be used in case of an emergency or excessive tarnish.

Silver jewelry should be kept in a cool location and stored in separate containers. This will prevent them from scratching one another and from being scratched by other jewelry. Taking care of silver jewelry is easy and inexpensive. Proper care will keep them shiny and scratch free for many, many years.