What is the best quality silver? And how do the various types of silver used to make jewelry compare to each other? 

All about silver alloys for jewelry

Connect with the author on LinkedIn:

Silver has been prized as a beautiful, dazzling metal for thousands of years, at times valued even more highly than gold. Silver jewelry produced in antiquity was rarely 100% pure silver, and this remains true today. Most silver used in jewelry is alloyed (mixed) with other metals.

Combining silver with base metals results in an alloy that’s stronger and more durable than pure silver alone. These alloying metals are harder and cheaper than silver – meaning that the more silver content in an alloy, the softer and more expensive it is.

Often (but not always), a genuine silver product is stamped with a quality mark to show the amount of silver used in its manufacture.

Pure silver

Pure silver, being the raw material for silver jewelry, has several names like “commercial silver”, “fine silver” or “primary silver”. It is pure silver whereby 1000 parts fine or 999.5 parts (or higher) per 1000 parts silver. It is bought from refineries in the form of bullion or grains to produce jewelry

Fine Silver

This is the purest form of silver you can buy. Fine silver, also known as pure silver, is a hypoallergenic metal with 99.9% silver content. The remaining 0.1% consists of trace elements, usually copper. If these trace elements exceed 0.1%, the metal can’t be called fine silver.

While every type of silver will eventually tarnish, fine silver’s high purity gives it more tarnish resistance than silver alloys with higher amounts of copper, such as sterling silver.

Pure silver jewelry is far less commonplace than sterling silver jewelry. As well as being more expensive than sterling, fine silver is a soft material that’s prone to scratches and dents, so it’s not the best type of silver for jewelry.

On the other hand, because of its softness silver wire jewelry can only be made with fine silver wire, as the curling and bending requires a soft material. 

Gold and silver are metals that don’t cause harm to the human body. Silver is also used for its antibacterial properties. We will often see it on certain bandages or even in some creams. Its toxicity for the human body is practically zero.

Common Fine Silver Stamp Marks:

• 999 (meaning 999/1000 parts, or 99.9% silver)

Sterling Silver

Sterling silver is by far the most popular type of silver used in jewelry making. The sterling silver alloy has a rich history, being used both for minting coins, and for the creation of ornamental items, for around a thousand years.

Traditionally composed of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper, sterling silver is harder and relatively affordable compared to purer silver metals. The trade-off is that this copper content makes sterling silver more susceptible to tarnishing.

Like fine silver, sterling silver is considered hypoallergenic. Though a small percentage of the population is mildly sensitive to copper, the amount of copper in sterling silver jewelry is quite low. This means that most (if not all) people can wear it without issue.

Common Sterling Silver Stamp Marks:

• Sterling, Ster, STG, or SS
• 925 (meaning 925/1000 parts, or 92.5% silver)
• The Lion Passant (a heraldic lion used as a symbol for sterling silver.

Moonlight Silver

(Non-Tarnish Silver)

Non-tarnish silver refers to various silver alloys that have increased tarnish resistance compared to sterling and other types of silver. However, despite being commonly marketed as non-tarnish silver, a truly tarnish-proof silver alloy has yet to be developed. The non-tarnish silver available today would be more correctly described as tarnish-resistant.

Tarnish-resistant alloys are sterling grade (92.5% silver content) or higher. But unlike traditional sterling, they substitute part of their copper content with other metals. The element germanium, known for its ability to protect against silver tarnishing, is typically one of the metals used.

While tarnish-resistant silver jewelry tends to cost slightly more than jewelry made from regular sterling silver, it also requires less maintenance.

Modern non-tarnish alloys include:

• Argentium – Either 93.5% or 96% silver, with a proprietary blend of germanium, zinc, boron, and copper making up the remainder. Argentium silver is the most well-known tarnish-resistant alloy.
• Silvadium – 93% silver, 7% palladium, with trace amounts of germanium.
• Sterlium – 93% silver, 4% zinc, 3% copper, with trace amounts of germanium.
• Sterilite – 92.5% silver, with a remainder of copper, tin, zinc, silica, and sometimes germanium.

Moonlight Silver

Moonlight Silver is an enhanced tarnish-resistant Sterling Silver produced by Gemrock. As such Moonlight Silver is more shiny than regular sterling silver (the copper content makes it darker). To provide an even greater shine our tarnish-resistant silver gets an electrolytic bath in pure silver. And as a last step, it gets a final treatment in an anti-tarnish chemical. Moonlight Silver is most likely the most shiny silver on the global market.

Common Non-Tarnish Silver Stamp Marks:
In addition to the primary sterling silver quality marks, second marks on non-tarnish alloys can feature: Argentium, Silvadium, Sterlium, or Sterilite

Britannia Silver

Britannia silver is an alloy with at least 95.83% pure silver content. The base metal making up the remainder is usually copper.

The Britannia standard was introduced as a legal requirement for all silver items made in England in the 17th century. The new law was aimed at preventing sterling silver coinage, which had lower silver content, from being melted down and used to make silverware.

But due to producing softer and less sturdy items than sterling silver, the Britannia alloy was unpopular, and the law was eventually rescinded.

Some modern jewelers, particularly in the United Kingdom, still offer silver pieces made from Britannia. This type of silver is rarely available in the United States.

Common Britannia Stamp Marks:

• Britannia
• 958 (meaning 958/1000 parts, or 95.8% silver)
• A figure of Britannia (a traditional goddess personification of Britain)

950 Silver

950 silver is an alloy with at least 95% pure silver content. The base metal making up the remainder is usually copper. Nowadays a common silver variety for cheaper jewelry. Although it contains more silver than Sterling Silver , it is considered a lower quality silver variety.

You can buy our finished top-quality cabochons for jewelry makers.

National and international shipping from our US-based warehouse.

Coin Silver

Consisting of 90% silver and 10% copper, coin silver historically got both its composition and its name from United States silver coins. Silversmiths would melt down these coins and use the metal to make jewelry and other products.

This durable silver coin alloy was also referred to as standard silver, or by the informal term “one nine fine”. Though coin silver is harder than sterling due to being 10% copper, this composition also makes it duller and more susceptible to tarnishing.

As time passed, most coins in the USA stopped being made from real silver. With no silver coin supply, coin silver jewelry disappeared from the market. Coin silver has since been largely replaced by sterling silver.

You can still find coin-silver items by digging around vintage jewelry and antique stores. Their value usually comes more from their age and rarity, rather than from their silver content.

Common Coin Silver Stamp Marks:

• Coin or Pure Coin
• Standard
• 900 (meaning 900/1000 parts, or 90% silver)

European Silver

European silver, also known as continental silver, isn’t any one type of silver alloy. It’s a collective term referring to the many different non-sterling silver grades that were traditionally used across continental Europe.

Continental grades of silver are less common today since sterling silver has become the leading silver alloy for jewelry making around the world.

However, jewelers in some European regions continue to produce pieces according to their traditional silver standards.

European silver has dozens of different quality stamp marks.

Other types of fake & toxic “Silver”

There are several other “so-called” Silver Varieties on the market, such as:

• Tibetan Silver
• Tribal Silver
• German Silver
• Alpaca

All these materials do not contain any silver and must be considered fake and toxic silver, mostly used in fashion jewelry.

Read our blog article on fake and toxic silver, so that you can avoid buying it and putting your health in danger.

Stay in touch wherever you want and can!

Just click the icons!

FREE CONTENT RESOURCES

Products for Jewelry Makers – Newsletter

Products for Jewelry Makers – Newsletter

FREE CONTENT RESOURCES & PERSONAL CONNECTION

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Follow us from EX-Twitter to Threads

Follow us from EX-Twitter to Threads