It has come to my attention that some people are buying silver only to find what they get is not what they expected.  When you see some one selling Silver jewellery you usually assume that it is Sterling silver when it may in fact be Nickel silver.  Unfortunately if the person selling it did not say it was sterling silver, they have not done any thing illegal.  Why because silver is part of the name of the product.  It is a case of buyer beware, you need to know what is meant by the word Silver. 

There are all different types of silver out there, not all of it is sterling.  You need to know what you are buying.  Italian silver will be stamped “Italian 925” or “Italian Silver”.  To make sure you are getting real sterling silver you need to look for the “925” stamp.  If there is no stamp then it is not Sterling silver.  Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% of pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. 

Fine silver is 99.9% silver or better and is to soft for general use.  It is used to make bullion bars for international commodities trading.  Britannia silver is purer that sterling, at least 95.84% silver and up to 4.16% copper and is marked 958.  Mexican silver is also purer then sterling, usually 95% Silver and 5% Copper.  Though most silver jewellery and other decorative silver objects made in Mexico are Sterling and are marked “Sterling” or “925”.

Coin silver is 90% silver and 10% copper.  Coin silver got its name because it was made from melting down silver coins.  It was used in 1820 to 1868 to make table silver.  German silver is 80% or 90% pure silver and is the most common for silverware and decorative silver objects.  It is usually marked with “800” or “900” to show the percentage of silver used.  German silver is also another name for Nickel Silver so make sure you look for the stamp.

Nickel Silver gets its name because its colour matches that of silver reasonably, and because it was used as a low status substitute for silver in the 19th century.  Nickel silver is a metal alloy of copper with nickel and some times zinc.  It is named for its silvery appearance even though it contains no elemental silver.  People can advertise Nickel silver as being silver as long as they do not claim it is sterling silver.

 There are different formulations of alloys that fall within the general term of "Nickel Silver". All contain copper, nickel and zinc, while some formulas may include antimony, tin, lead or cadmium. A representative formulation (Alloy No.752) is 65% copper, 18% nickel, 17% zinc.

Nickel Silver products are also known as:

• Afghan Silver
• Albata
• Alpaca Silver
• Alpacca Silver * trade name for nickel silver and for electro plated nickel silver.
• Alpaka Silver
• Alpakka Silver
• Argentan
• Austrian Silver
• Baitong
• Baitun
• Baitung
• Brazilian Silver
• British Plate
• German silver  ** this name is also used for 80% silver so you need to look for the stamp 800 or 900 when this name is being used.  Other wise it is just another name for Nickel Silver.
• Goldoid 
• Nevada Silver
• New Silver
• Packfong
• Packtong
• Paitun
• Paitung
• Pakfong
• Pakton
• Paktong
• Potosi Silver
• Silverite
• Sonora Silver
• Tutenag
• Tyrol Silver
• Venetian Silver
• Virenium
• Virginian Plate

Nickel Silver is widely used for the commercial production of industrial components, house wares, flatware and cutlery, coins, costume jewellery and as the metal substrate for silver-plated goods.  The term EPNS means Electro-Plated Nickel Silver.  Nickel Silver is not a bad thing unless you think you are buying Sterling Silver but are getting Nickel Silver.

Tags: 925, silver jewellery, silver jewelry, sterling silver, sterling silver jewellery, sterling silver jewelry

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