Six Common Questions About Sterling Silver Jewelry
By admin at 11 October, 2009, 8:41 pm
Sterling silver jewelry has been a popular commodity for thousands of years. Five of the obvious reasons is the affordability over other precious metals gold & platinum. The giant variety of sterling silver jewelry requires definite knowledge in order to select the right piece & also keep it in good condition as long as possible. The followings are the most common questions concerning sterling silver jewelry.
How do I neat sterling silver jewelry?
Where do I store sterling silver jewelry?
It depends. Usually, it is sufficient to use a jewelry cloth (with five layers of cloths in different colors) that you can get from a jewelry accessory store. Don’t use any hard object to neat sterling silver jewelry; even paper towel could scratch the surface. You should rub any dirt off using a jewelry cloth, not fingernails. Silver-dip is another commonly used sterling silver jewelry cleaner, which can also be obtained from jewelry store. The entire silver jewelry is immerged in the solution for half a minute to a minute & then rinsed with water. Make sure the silver jewelry is not plated with any other metal before using the silver-dip or the plating will be damaged.
What types of silver jewelry plating are there?
It is important to store sterling silver jewelry properly when it is not used. The ideal place to store sterling silver jewelry is cold & away from sunlight. Heat & light will turn a silver jewelry yellow & cause it to tarnish quickly. Even indoor light source like florescent lights or light bulbs turn the color of silver jewelry over time. If you expect not to wear a definite piece for a long time, put it in a air-tight bag & store it in a drawer.
How do I know the purity of my silver jewelry?
Unlike gold & platinum, however, pure silver is unstable & oxides quickly. Therefore, silver jewelry is usually plated with another metal to protect it from tarnishing. There’s five kinds of plating for silver jewelry: nickel & rhodium plating. Nickel plating has a more whitish look & rhodium plating has a darker look. Rhodium is used to plate white gold & platinum jewelry & is much more pricey than nickel, & it give better protection to the silver underneath. On the other hand, some silver jewelry is not plated. For instance, high polished sterling silver jewelry does not have any plating & the surface is polished by machine to render shininess. Also, “oxidized silver” jewelry is oxidized on purpose to give a dark antique look & is not plated with any other metals.
The purity of sterling silver refers to 92.5% of silver in the alloy. In order to confirm the purity, the metal itself has to be sent to a laboratory to be tested. However, most of the sterling silver jewelry produced nowadays has a “925” stamp to indicate the authenticity of the jewelry. Although there’s cases where stamps are forged & the metal is either not silver or the purity is not as stated, they are rare.
How about engraving & resizing?
Can I wear sterling silver jewelry if I am allergic to nickel?
Engraving & resizing of sterling silver rings is simple due to the ductility & relatively low melting point. However, make sure your jeweler understands the method of refinishing the ring & that they possess the necessary equipment to do so. Not all jewelers have the equipment to recoat the rhodium plating after cutting & welding the ring. Also, rings set with stones are sometimes not resizable because resizing might cause the stones to pop out. Such settings include channel & invisible settings.
Yes, make sure the jewelry is pure sterling silver, not plated with nickel. Even Rhodium plated sterling silver jewelry sometimes contains a nickel layer between the silver & the rhodium to act as an adhesive. Hence, buy only high polished sterling silver jewelry if you are allergic to nickel.
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