Sterling silver or 925 silver

The other day we were talking about the types of gold depending on the karatage. To sum it up, the amount of gold in an alloy is calculated on 24 karat, or 24 parts of gold. The 18 karat gold has 3 parts of gold out of 4 (that is why it is called gold of law or 750 ml gold, 750 thousandths), then there is 14 karat gold, 9 karat gold… although, as the alloy is often melted by hand in the workshop, you can actually put the amount you want.

The same applies to silver, and there are also different types of silver. Silver, like gold, is a relatively soft metal and therefore fine silver, which is practically pure silver (about 99.99%) is not usually used because it quickly scratches and marks. It is possible to make jewelry with it and it has a very distinctive luster (which is cool, by the way) but, because it is so (relatively) soft, that luster lasts very little.

The most common type of silver is sterling silver or 925 silver. Why does it have this name? Because, as you may have guessed, it is an alloy containing 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of other metals, including copper, zinc or nickel. This alloy is made for two reasons: first, to slightly reduce the price of the metal. But the truth is that silver itself is not very expensive (about one euro per gram), so this price reduction, unless you make a lot of jewelry, is not so important. The real reason is that, as we have already said, silver is soft, and by mixing it with those other metals that are harder, you get a stronger metal that better resists shocks or impacts.

But this mixture has a problem: silver, when mixed with copper, which is a metal that reacts a lot, blackens. We usually call it “oxidizing”, although the process is not that and has other chemical properties, but the fact is that, over time, silver darkens and ends up with a blackened shine. Yes, that’s why there are so many series and movies where servants and maids have to spend long hours polishing silver.

What causes silver to blacken? Most of all, humidity. Yes, moisture is sterling silver’s worst enemy. If you want your silver jewelry to stay shiny for as long as possible, the first thing to do is to avoid humidity. Note: this does not mean avoiding water, far from it! You can bathe with them, you can take a shower, you can take them to the sea and to the swimming pool and to the lake and to the river. But, once you get out and dry, dry the jewelry as much as possible.

Or, something that will also work very well: when you take it off or when you are not using it, leave it in a hermetically sealed bag, one of those with a zip at the top, where air can’t get in. If you don’t have one, a jewelry box or a small closed box will also work.

And another big enemy of silver is… our own skin. Yes, each person has a different sweat and skin type and, in some cases, the determined PH makes silver blacken very fast. We have seen cases of newly polished rings that within a week or two turned black upon contact with the skin. This is not common, fortunately, but it is likely that, with time, contact and wear, silver will lose its luster.

What can be done in these cases? Well, there are several options. There are “miracle” products that clean silver. For example, there are cloths that come with a special product that polishes it. We have only tried a couple, but the truth is that they have not given us very good results, because, in addition to cleaning the silver, they left scratches and marks on it.

Another option are the liquids in which you have to dip the silver. These already work better, and we use one that is a marvel, if you want to write us and we will recommend it without problems (we are trying to have it available on the page so that you always have it at hand).

Another option, which is not so much to remove the black but it does help to keep the jewel shiny longer, is to clean it with hot soapy water, gently and gently, and then dry it with a cloth. The softer the cloth, the better. If it is a chamois of the glasses, great! Or a kleenex is also very good.

Eventually, though, the day will most likely come when silver will go dark. What is the best option then? Well… Re-polish it! The good thing about silver is that, in a short time, you can get it back to a shine like the first day. That’s why at SENSEI we always advise you to wear your jewelry every day, as often as you feel like it. Jewelry is for enjoying, for combining, for wearing and showing off what we like and sharing it with friends. And, when the time comes, we will be happy to polish them again and leave them as good as new 🙂

Bueno, que nos hemos ido un poco del tema. Estábamos hablando de los tipos de plata. Además de la plata fina y de la plata de ley o plata 925, existen muchos otros tipos, en general con distinta cantidad de plata, pero por ejemplo la plata de Britannia, que es una aleación hecha con 95,8% de plata pura y un 4,2% de cobre. Y plata 950, plata 800…