Given the abundance of silver jewelry in the marketplace - from flea markets and discount retail stores, to high end fashion boutiques and the internet, we thought it worthwhile to explore the topic of exactly what is sterling silver?

First of all, just because you own a piece of silver jewelry, it does not mean you own a piece of sterling silver jewelry.

And sterling silver does not originate from a place called 'Sterling' - it is simply a combination of pure silver (99.9%) and 7.5% ( by weight) of another metal.

The reason for this combination is that pure silver itself is quite a soft metal, it would not stand up the daily bumps and scrapes your jewelry receives, not would it be able to hold stones, or be shaped into clasps and so on.

So, a harder metal is required to strengthen the silver,but the objective is to strengthen the silver without affecting the visual quality so appealing of pure silver in the first place.

The other metal typically used in combination with pure silver, is copper, although, other metals can be used.

One of the challenges in the process of manufacturing sterling silver for jewelry, is the question that arises - how does the purchaser know they are buying genuine sterling silver?

It would be very easy for a silversmith to put far more than 7.5% of another metal into the mix and the more he uses of a cheaper but stronger metal, the more profit he can make, by passing the finished product off as genuine sterling silver.

In the past, this problem was solved by each piece of silver being given a makers mark-or a hallmark, this was a stamp into the metal by the silversmith, saying who he is, who he worked for and the purity of the finished product.

Whilst some silversmiths still use makers marks today, it is less common than it was in past centuries. There is no doubt though, that when you are buying sterling silver jewelry, you would want to buy from a reputable source and if you are buying a designer piece, such as our jewelery, you would want to know who the designer is, and where the jewelry is made.

Does the designer employ the silversmiths? or do they simply have their pieces mass produced in a factory somewhere and are not involved in certifying the finished product?

Also, some form of certification with a piece of sterling silver is also very important- that's why every piece of our jewelry is accompanied by a certificate, guaranteeing it is a genuine designer piece, made with .925 Sterling Silver!

Importantly, if you are shopping around for silver jewelry, you can get some indication of the quality of the silver by the rate at which it tarnishes. Pure silver does not react with oxygen, so it will not tarnish, but the higher the percentage of another metal mixed in with it, the faster the rate the finished product will tarnish.

All silver ( except pure silver), will tarnish, however, sterling silver will not tarnish as fast and it will maintain a high shine when worn regularly.

If you are looking at silver jewelry that is already tarnished, the likelihood is that you are not looking at sterling silver. Of course, this can be hidden by the piece being polished, so you also want to look at the 'brightness' of the piece. If it has been polished by has a dull flat finish, it is definitely not sterling silver.

However, there are other alloys and metals that can be used to look like sterling silver, so your only real guarantee, is some form of certification and a knowledge of who you are buying from.

Consider where you are buying your piece from - has the piece been hand made by a silversmith, or was it just poured into a cast? Cheaply made cast silver jewelry ( silver jewelry which is poured into a cast, rather than handmade) typically uses a much higher percentage of copper and lesser quality metals and this can clearly be seen in the finished product.

In fact, the casting process itself is inferior to the process of hand making silver jewelry - casting is typically done because it does not require skilled labour to create it and the casting process itself means large volumes of one piece can be turned out very quickly.

Casting is done to save money and rarely does genuine sterling silver enter that equation!

Well, we hope this has been an interesting and informative article.