925 sterling silver means silver with 92.5% purity, internationally recognized standard for fine silver. 100% silver is too flexible to shape up and apt to “oxidation”, known as “discoloring”.
Plain silver: 925 sterling silver is plated with white rhodium coating (Which is called platinum in jewelry industry), which maximally delays the fading and blackening of silver under the condition of oxidation or sulfuration. Industrially, 925 sterling silver not plated with white rhodium coating is called plain silver, which is apt to oxidation when exposed in the air. A large portion of 925 sterling silver commercially available on the market is plain silver for reduction of cost.
Thai silver: a kind of product that is special in Thai market, with the same standard content as 925 sterling silver. Thai silver features matt surface for obtaining the effect of “ancient” and “old” “aged silver”. Thai silver is a bit higher in price than 925 sterling silver, because Thai silver is more expensive in labor cost.
Tibet silver: Generally, it does not contain silver, but an elegant name of cupronickel (Copper-nickel alloy); traditional Tibet silver is composed of 30% silver and 70% copper, even this kind of “Tibet silver” made by traditional process is rare in current market, and most Tibet silvers are fully substituted by cupronickel. Various types of vivid counterfeits: these fake silvers are plated with a silver coating to deceive the customers. When they’re appraised by jewelry appraisal organization, it’s likely to be mistakenly judged as authentic silver jewelry due to the reason that the 999 silver or 925 sterling silver coating is only appraised,. It’s recommended that, when appraising silver jewelry, the most reasonable method is to cut a section from middle part, and test the central part of the sample.
Difference: 925 sterling silver, Thai silver, Tibetan silver:
925 sterling silver
Is 925/1000 silver with 75 thousandths of copper silver, silver is an internationally recognized standard, as silver standard. 100% of the silver is relatively soft, making could not be formed, made of silver inconvenience, and relatively easy to “oxidation”, is usually platinum plated 925 silver (white rhodium) to prevent Silver oxide or sulfide in the case of yellow black, not platinum plated 925 silver, known as the “prime bank.” Nowadays, 925 sterling silver jewelry take 50% parts of world jewelry markets.
Thai silver
Thailandspecialty, standard is 925 silver content. Appearance of a lack of brightness, the pursuit of an “old” and “Old Silver” effect; outside the platinum than 925 silver, not the broad mass basis, relative to 925 silver, and the price should be higher than the end of some. That is, 999/1000 silver content of Thai silver jewelry exquisite, like a work of art, beautiful, elegant, stylish, Thai silver jewelry with simple style, matt, and the old the ancient atmosphere by an old fashion crowd.
Tibetan silver
Generally does not contain silver component is copper-nickel alloy (copper-nickel alloys) called these, the traditional Tibetan silver is 30% silver with 70% of copper, because the silver content is too low, so now the market has not seen, and to completely replace copper-nickel alloy.
Tibetan silver is a name. It is actually an alloy. In Tibetans, Tibetan silver is actually white copper. Tibetan silver is the nickname of white copper (copper-nickel alloy). The traditional Tibetan silver in Tibetan silver is 30% silver plus 70% copper. Because the silver content is still too low, it is no longer seen on the market, and it is replaced by completely white copper. There are no imprints on Tibetan silver jewelry.
Thai silver, the concept is 925 Sterling Silver, (Thai silver is a kind of old retro process, containing 92.5%, 99%, 99.9%, low purity) is just a special name for a special process. Also known as “Wuyin”, it is a mixture of silver and sulfur on silver jewelry, and a cover layer is formed in a vitreous state. The black-silver cover layer is loose and black, which is in sharp contrast with the smooth silver of silver, resulting in special visual effects. Due to the special anti-old treatment, the black and silver jewelry not only does not change color for a long time, but also the surface hardness is greatly enhanced. The unique texture and color make this jewelry rough and simple. Thai silver jewelry is stamped with 925 or S925.
92.5% silver + 7.5% copper alloy is an internationally recognized standard for pure silver. It is usually plated with platinum (one or several kinds of enamel, 18K white gold, silver, nickel, copper, palladium, etc.) to prevent oxidation or Vulcanized to yellow and black, without platinum-plated 925 silver, known as “silver.” Of course, 990 pure silver is not plated with platinum, also called “sugar silver.”
There are many types of silver available on the market today. It is important to be familiar with the competing metals in the marketplace in order to educate your customers about silver quality standards and alternatives in the industry. Don’t assume you are buying sterling silver jewelry supplies when something is called “silver.”
Silver Alloys
First, customers need to understand that silver used in jewelry is usually an alloy which means a metal mixture of two or more elements from the periodic table. Silver is an element. Other metallic elements are alloyed with silver for various reasons that are described below.
Quality Marks
Second, a lot of finished silver jewelry will have a quality stamp somewhere on the piece. This is the quickest way to identify quality. There are cases of fraudulent marking but they are fairly rare. These tiny markings may only be legible under magnification. However, jewelry items or components are only required to bear a stamp when there is a surface area available. For that reason, small findings and components are often unstamped even though they are quality alloys.
Genuine Tibetan Silver contains 92.5 % silver, and it quite expensive, but there are sellers out there, most likely unknowingly, selling items labeled as Tibetan Silver that actually have no silver content.
Tibetan silver (Chinese Zangyin) in modern usage refers to a variety of white non-precious metal alloys used primarily in jewelry components, with an appearance similar to aged silver.
In general, Tibetan silver has too much arsenic and lead, which cause health issues. Scientists have done fluorescent X-ray tests for the fake Tibetan silver, and the results are not great. It has 1.3 % arsenic and 54 % lead, which are very harmful.
In the past, there was an alloy called Tibetan Silver that actually did contain the element silver. Some vintage Tibetan silver is sterling silver, which is 92.5% silver. The remaining percent could be any combination of other metals, although usually, it is copper or tin.
Other darker silver metals such as Tibetan Silver (a zinc alloy), Mexican silver etc should not be cleaned with chemicals, acids, bread soda etc. These metals are darker by nature. A barely damp or soft dry cloth will remove grime. One of the gentlest ways to clean such silver is to wash in mild, soapy water.
I can tell you more:
Tibetan Tribal Silver
Tibetan silver and many other silver varieties called “tribal” silver are base metal alloys, which only exist in silver. There are many different contents of the alloys, and many of them do not contain silver. Some of them contain toxic metals, such as plum, from exotic countries. The whole jewelry should be bought carefully and never given to kids. Tribal parts can be pretty beautiful, so they buy for the design value rather than the metal value.
Bali, Thai, or Mexican Silver
Silver of much better quality comes from Thailand, Mexico, and Bali. But silver must also be labeled and marked with a quality stamp and/or quality report. These states have much lower silver alloys, as defined only by the place of origin. The name of the source country is not the guarantee of quality or silver material individually.
Is 925 sterling silver?
Instead fine silver is alloyed with copper to create sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper. This percentage of fine silver is why you will sometimes see sterling silver referred to as ‘925 silver’ or hallmarked with a 925 stamp.
Does Tibetan silver change color?
The lower the silver content the quicker and blacker the tarnish it even develops a greenish tinge, depending on the atmosphere and environment its been exposed to.
Why is Thailand gold so yellow?
Thai gold jewelry often has a purity of 96,5% gold, which is equivalent to 23 karat. Generally speaking, the higher karat a gold object has, the softer it is. For that reason, a lower karat can be recommended for rings and thin jewelry. The Thai gold often has an intense “yellow” color due to the high carat.
General idea of Thai silver is also known as 925 sterling silver, however that’s not completely correct, Thai silver is also the definition of a workmanship, a traditional way to make silver items, and it could be 925 (92.5% silver + 7.5 copper) or 950 (95% of silver) or 999 (99.9% of silver). These can all known as Thai silver, as long as there were from that region and with that particular workmanship.
999 Fine silver is the best for jewelry making?
No, be straight, 99.9% is not as good as you think, the reason people don’t like to use purely silver or we call 99.9% silver is because it’s too easy to tarnish and too soft for jewelry making. Therefore most of the silver jewelry you see is made with 925 silver. it’s simple because of utility.
Probably, Tibetan Silver might have potential health hazards because the definition of the alloy in it is uncertain.
Some doctors will discourage you from wearing this silver if you’re pregnant because you might have pre-term delivery and fertility problems. Also, it’s not recommended for children since they might have health problems during their early ages.
In general, Tibetan silver has too much arsenic and lead, which cause health issues. Scientists have done fluorescent X-ray tests for the fake Tibetan silver, and the results are not great. It has 1.3 % arsenic and 54 % lead, which are very harmful. So, it is important to be extra careful when buying your pieces of jewelry.
and Thailand Silver also is silver with good quality. Thai silver jewelry is made from 92.5% sterling silver. This is possibly why the figures 92.5 or 925 have become synonymous with Thai jewelry. Here are reasons why this type of silver is always an excellent jewelry option. It Has Hypoallergenic PropertiesNumerous other metals like nickel, brass, and copper can irritate the skin or cause adverse skin reactions. Sterling silver is hypoallergenic, meaning it’s completely safe for the skin. With a fine silver content of 92.5%, Thai sterling silver has a very low chance of causing allergic reactions as alloys in this silver are not significant enough to cause skin irritation.
You may think that there is only one type of silver used in jewelry, but there are actually different types used to in the jewelry industry. Silver is one of the most affordable precious metal, and when worn it is combined with other types of metals as pure silver can be too soft for jewelry. A hallmark is a certified mark (or a series of marks) that made up of metal that indicates the transparency of metal and the producer’s mark.
There are many types of silver available on the market today. It is important to be familiar with the competing metals in the marketplace in order to educate your customers about silver quality standards and alternatives in the industry. Don’t assume you are buying sterling silver jewelry supplies when something is called “silver.” you should find definitions and comparisons of the different silver metals used to make jewelry around the world.
There are two commonly used tests to determine the silver content in an alloy. X-ray testing is non-destructive but requires special, expensive equipment. Jewelry must be sent to a lab for x-ray testing. This test is fairly accurate on most silver items. However, it can be fooled by layered metals and some types of plating, so accuracy is less reliable. The best means of testing are wet chemical analysis or assay, which require a small amount of material to be permanently removed from the jewelry. These tests are extremely accurate when conducted in a reputable lab.
There are many types of silver available on the market today. It is important to be familiar with the competing metals in the marketplace in order to educate your customers about silver quality standards and alternatives in the industry. Don’t assume you are buying sterling silver jewelry supplies when something is called “silver.”
Thank you. I have been buying a lot of silver from tv channel LC only to find out it’s junk. I am going to call LC and confront them.
we only have to look at its purity. Fine silver is simply pure silver. It is 99.9%, or .999 pure. It is ideal for investment and trading purposes. To be considered investment grade silver it must be fine silver. Many refer to it as the “three nines fine” rule.
Additionally, fine silver is quite soft and does not tarnish. It has a beautiful luster, but it not quite as shiny and bright as sterling. Instead, it has a slightly dull and gray appearance. However, it’s easy to form and highly resistant to tarnish.
Fine silver is useful for making silver bullion ingots or bars, and bullion coins. Also, only .999 silver is tradable at trade markets, such as the metal and commodities exchanges. To trade silver with value, it must have a .999 purity stamp. Silver in both bullion bars and silver bullion coins have been favorite investments for years.
General idea of Thai silver is also known as 925 sterling silver, however that’s not completely correct, Thai silver is also the definition of a workmanship, a traditional way to make silver items, and it could be 925 (92.5% silver + 7.5 copper) or 950 (95% of silver) or 999 (99.9% of silver). These can all known as Thai silver, as long as there were from that region and with that particular workmanship.
There are many types of silver available on the market today. It is important to be familiar with the competing metals in the marketplace in order to educate your customers about silver quality standards and alternatives in the industry. Don’t assume you are buying sterling silver jewelry supplies when something is called “silver.” pay your attention! you will find definitions and comparisons of the different silver metals used to make jewelry around the world.
Silver used to make jewelry is usually an alloy – which means it’s a mixture of two or more elements from the periodic table. A finished piece of silver jewelry should have a quality stamp somewhere on it, which tells you what type of silver your piece is made up of.
Tibetan silver is not the same as Thai or Thailand Silver but they are often confused with each other. Thai or Thailand silver is usually sterling or better (but some could be as low as 800 fineness) that’s made in Thailand and it will be marked as such. Tibetan silver is an alloy that contains 30% silver or less. The rest of the metal is copper, a copper-nickle alloy or zinc.
Very good article, I learned a lot about silver, thank you very much, you are very professional, I think I can consider buying 925 sterling silver jewelries from red nymph store, thank you again
Thai Silver may also be referred to as Thai Hill Silver or Karen Hill Tribes Silver. For the newcomer the varying ways to describe different types of silver can be very confusing, so becoming educated about the varying ways that different silver brands are described can be empowering. Thai Silver made in northern Thailand by the hill tribes is made by traditional methods passed down the generations. In some ways Thai silver is similar to that from Bali, however the main difference is that Hill Tribes silver is usually 95%to 98% pure and therefore its colour is slightly lighter that that of Bali Silver or general sterling Silver.
Tibetan Silver was originally from a region of Chain famed for its old style traditions, heritage and craft work. Today however, with the explosion of trade around the world, and the increasing demand for cheap goods, there have been a lot of products marketed as Tibetan Silver which contain no Silver at all or very small quantities mixed with metal alloys. Frequently these types of products can be found on the internet auctions sites and should be avoided