What Does 925 Sterling Silver Mean?

Precious metals are often measured by their purity, by a system called millesimal fineness. 925 therefore is a measurement out of which a total number of 1000 parts, consist of the precious metal. This means that for every 1000 parts of metal 75 parts are NOT silver and are a different element. 

As a percentage, 92.5% of the metal is made of silver and 7.5% are another metal. 

For sterling silver a 925 sterling silver mark is stamped onto a genuine piece of jewellery to indicate its purity. Without this mark, it means your sterling silver piece may not be genuine silver at all. 

Each country often has a different shape or form of the mark so it may appear differently based on the origin. Sometimes jewellers do not mark their silver items because there is not sufficient space to place a 925 mark onto the piece, so if you can not see an obvious spot 925 could be marked on your jewellery, that may be why. 

Jewellery is usually stamped based on the purity of the majority metal. So for gold vermeil jewellery it will be marked with a 925 too because gold vermeil jewellery is by definition sterling silver with a thick gold plating of 2.5 microns or more. 

What is sterling silver? 

Sterling silver is a combination of two metals and is composed of two metals. Usually combined with copper and zinc. 

Jewellery intended for everyday wear is not suitable to be made from pure silver because it is too soft a metal. 

Is sterling silver fake? 

Real silver is technically just the element silver and nothing else, sterling silver is alloy of silver and another metal.

Is sterling silver better than silver plated? 

Sterling silver as discussed is made of pure silver with a small fraction of another metal used. Silver plated refers to a metal such as copper which only has a small surface layer of silver covering the base metal of copper for example. 

Over time the wear and tear of the silver plated metal means that the thin silver layer will fade or eventually scratch or chip off. When this happens, it will expose the base metal. 

Sterling silver is therefore regarded as a higher quality and more durable material than silver plated jewellery. All our products at Lucy Jurado 

When Sterling silver starts to tarnish does it mean that it is fake? 

No, it does not mean your Sterling silver is fake. This is a completely natural process that happens. The reason Sterling silver tarnishes is because of the copper component within the metal. This tarnishing effect only occurs on the surface level of the metal and therefore can be reversed by polishing and cleaning. Fortunately, sterling silver only had a very small fraction of copper metal and is regarded as a high quality metal - compared to metals with a lower silver purity. 

How should you best look after your new piece of jewellery? 

Some quick tips to best look after your sterling silver jewellery:

- Keep your hands and jewellery dry, even when washing your hands, it’s best to take off your sterling silver rings. 

- Store your jewellery in cloth pouches or in a jewellery box with individual compartments. 

- Take off your jewellery when doing tasks that will make you sweat - before exercise for example it’s best to take your jewellery off. 

- Take your jewellery off when applying lotions and perfumes because you do not want to expose your sterling silver pieces to those chemicals.

By taking the time to care for your jewellery and by practising these tips you will keep your jewellery looking tip top. 

How often should you clean your sterling silver jewellery? 

Polishing is done to remove tarnish and to shine silver pieces. A gentle polishing every couple months should be enough to achieve this. 

Your sterling silver jewellery should not be excessively cleaned throughout its lifetime because every time you clean your sterling silver ring, metal layers of silver are removed from the surface. 

 

 

If you are looking for a plain sterling silver ring, you can shop our collection here.