When you're buying jewelry, you're faced with several different standards of Silver. Knowing which is which will help you make educated buying decisions.
Silver Plate, which is a micro-coating of Silver over a base metal, is relatively inexpensive, but may turn your neck, ears or fingers black through a chemical reaction with your skin. It wears off easily, so is not long-lasting on a piece of jewelry.
Fine Silver is 99.9% pure silver, and tarnishes about eight times slower than Sterling Silver because it has no copper in it. Fine Silver, however, is very soft, and must be "work hardened" to be used in jewelry.
Sterling Silver is 92.5% pure silver hardened with a 7.5% of a base metal, most usually copper. Because of the copper, Sterling Silver tarnishes rapidly. Sterling Silver often is coated with an invisible protective layer to eliminate tarnish. This means you cannot polish it or dip it in silver cleaner, as this would remove the protective layer.
Argentium Silver is Fine Silver which has been alloyed with Germanium, which greatly decreases tarnishing. Argentium Silver jewelry rarely needs polishing.
But what Silver isn't Silver? Vermeil is Sterling Silver that is coated (plated) with at least 10K or more gold that is at least 2.5 microns thick (100/1,000,000 of an inch. Vermeil stays its beautiful gold color longer, but again because of the copper in the Sterling, eventually will tarnish. Vermeil gives you the appearance of gold, though at a much lower cost.
When you're selecting jewelry, be aware of the Silver differences, and choose carefully.
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