What you need to know about sterling silver 925 and pure silver jewelry
When it comes to silver jewelry, there are typically 2 choices offered in the market, sterling silver 925 and pure silver.
At Hill to Street, we offer jewelry pieces handmade from sterling silver 925 and pure silver aka our hilltribe silver.
Now, many have asked about the difference between them. Let’s start with sterling silver 925 which is the most common and known in the market.
Sterling Silver 925
In a nutshell, sterling silver 925 jewelry are pieces that contain 92.5% of silver plus 7.5% alloy. The 7.5% is mainly copper. Because of the addition of other metals such as copper and zinc, sterling silver is significantly harder and hence makes it more durable. This is great as it helps to keep your jewelry pieces more long lasting. Due to its strength, sterling silver has also gained popularity to set stones on.
On a different note, sterling silver tarnishes a little easily as compared to pure silver. Silver by itself can tarnish when not worn often and exposed to air. With sterling silver 925, it tarnishes a little faster because of the other alloy metals within the sterling silver. Copper as it’s usually the mix in sterling silver 925 is easily tarnished. So it speeds up the tarnishing process in sterling silver jewelry.
Having said that, there are many quick and simple methods to clean your silver jewelry. You may learn more about silver jewelry cleaning tips here. (https://hilltostreet.com/blog/how-to-clean-silver-jewelry/)
Pure Silver
Pure silver on the other hand or in this case our hill tribe silver jewelry has a higher silver content than sterling silver being between 95% and 99%. Because of the high silver content, pure silver is naturally softer and can be bent easily. Due to this nature, pure silver is generally used to make delicate jewelry pieces or designs with more intricate details.
While silver can tarnish when not worn often, pure silver is generally more resistant to tarnish.
Another benefit of pure silver jewelry is that they are less likely to cause irritation to sensitive skin due to its high silver content.
All in all, both sterling silver and pure silver jewelry have their pros and cons. Deciding which to buy will depend on the designs, your personal favourite and skin sensitivity to metals.
Regardless of which, you can make both pure silver and sterling silver items last a lot longer by taking a few simple precautions such as polishing them regularly with silver polishing cloth or with our recommended Hoi Tong Polishing Powder. (https://hilltostreet.com/blog/how-to-clean-silver-jewelry/)
When you are not wearing your jewelry, do store them in an airtight container or cotton bags separated from other metals. That way, your silver jewelry will stay shiny.