Silver has been used to make jewelry since ancient times, but the exploration of continents in the western hemisphere uncovered more productive silver mines than Europeans had ever seen. More silver has been mined and used since the late 1700's than in all prior centuries combined. What is Sterling Silver? Silver is a soft metal in its pure form, too soft to be used for jewelry and other items, so it's mixed with other metals to make it more durable. A popular silver mixture, called an alloy, is known as sterling silver. The US Federal Trade Commission, the FTC, stipulates that jewelry sold in the US cannot be marked or described as silver, solid silver, sterling silver, sterling, or using the abbreviation Ster. unless it contains at least 92.5 percent pure silver. The minimum silver content can also be stated as 925 parts per thousand of pure silver, so you might see the figures 925 or 92.5 used to mark silver content. Copper Content Copper is the most common metal used to round out the 7.5 percent alloy balance in sterling silver.
From Tammy Powley
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This article was published on Tuesday 16 October, 2007.
