Guide to Buying Sterling Silver Jewelry

Due to the price of sterling silver which is considerably cheaper than gold, platinum, or titanium jewelry, silver necklaces, rings and earrings  becoming more and more popular. It isn’t going to cost as much as gold or platinum jewelry, but there is a huge difference between true sterling jewelry which can last years and plated jewelry that will come apart leaving marks on your skin and turning ugly within weeks. Do you know how to distinguish it?

sterling silver necklace

It is common that people need cute pieces to wear and don’t want to spend too much money, they simply like the look of silver over gold. The problem is a lot of people couldn’t buy the real sterling silver jewelry even in some famous websites.  Here I would like to introduce some guide to help you be able to identify real sterling silver jewelry so that you won’t spend money on fake silver.

Sterling silver items are made up of 92.5% silver and 7.5% of other metals, although copper is the most common addition. Adding the outside metals helps to strengthen the silver so it remains more durable for a longer period of time. The most common way to identify sterling silver is to find the number 925, it is on most sterling silver although some companies only write “sterling”.  Once you have possession of the silver, smelling it can help you identify if it’s authentic or not. Plated jewelry will have a real metal smell.

 

silver rings

If you want to buy silver jewelry on the internet, you have to check out the feedback and rating for the seller first. If you see a lot of feedback complaining about the quality or the authenticity of the silver, you had better stay away. Don’t simply trust a listing that says “Sterling Silver”; look for physical proof within pictures. Look for the identifying marks listed above. If the listing claims to be sterling silver, but there is not any pictures to show proof, then either move on to someone else or email the seller asking for proof pictures. Unmarked sterling silver does exist, but not really on jewelry. Jewelry that’s sterling silver should be marked as so. You should be highly skeptical of any piece of “sterling silver” jewelry that’s not properly marked.

The unfortunate reality is buying sterling silver over the internet, especially through a site with many small store which is always risky. But if you choose an authorized seller with many years of experience and with as much proof as possible, then you are more likely to get a truly sterling silver jewelry at a fair price. If you don’t know where to go, check out Star Harvest Jewelry. Good luck for you!