Types of Silver

There are several different types of “Silver”;

1. Sterling silver is the main type of silver used in jewellery, ornaments & dinnerware today. This is solid silver. Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% metal alloy. Sterling silver is usually now hallmarked as “925”. Our own websites - libramarcasite.com and marcasitethailand.com both only sell 925/sterling silver items as does our UK retail site qtsilver.com

2. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver and is normally considered too soft to use for most items. It is also solid silver.

3. Plated Silver. Silver plating is common and sometimes dishonest sellers try to pass this off as sterling silver (a practice that has made many wary of dealing with companies in Hong Kong and mainland China, where the practice has been quite prevalent). It’s also call electroplated silver or silver coated as well. Silver plated items are made using a base metal, normally brass or nickel, which is then put through an electroplating process. Electroplating is a process which adheres a very very thin layer of pure silver onto the base metal. The result is a sterling silver looking item at a much reduced price. It may look like sterling silver but the silver plating tends to wear off quite quickly exposing the often unattractive base metal.

4. Alpaca Silver or German Silver is not actually silver at all. It is a greyish looking alloy which resembles silver. It is sometimes referred to as nickel silver, paktong, and new silver. It is also used as a base for silver plated items because of its appearance. If you want real silver, stay away from this. Also, beware of sellers selling this as “fine jewellery” to consumers that don’t know the difference between sterling silver and alpaca silver.

5. Mexican Silver is silver is used to describe silver made in Mexico. It must have more than 90% pure silver content to be Mexican silver. Most silver jewellery from Mexico today is actually 925/sterling silver.

6. Britannia Silver has a pure silver content of 95.85% and no more than 4.16% copper. This silver is marked in the U.K. and Ireland as "958 silver." It is an even more pure form of silver than sterling silver. Hence it’s higher value. This grade of silver is far less common than sterling / 925 silver.