Types of Silver

Although many items around us are made of silver, including jewellery and many different antiques, there are several different types that are used. Understanding these different alloys is a good idea, as you will gain a better understanding of the value and desirability of jewellery and antiques.

The most common and highest quality of silver used is sterling silver, often referred to as solid silver. However sterling silver is not actually pure silver, it is 925 parts out of every 1000 silver, and 75 parts other metals, most commonly copper. Pure silver is not used as it is too soft for making objects, as it can be bent and dented very easily, whereas the copper hardens the alloy significantly. Most items of sterling silver will feature a hall-mark showing that it is sterling, usually “925″ will be hall marked somewhere onto the object, in addition to other hall marks that show where and when the item was made.

However not all silver items are made of sterling silver as the metal is quite expensive, instead cheaper items are often made of plated silver. The idea behind plated silver is that less pure silver is needed to make an object, which reduces the production costs so the item can be bought at a lower price. There are several different types of silver plate:

Sheffield Plate was discovered in 1743 by Thomas Boulsover, a cutler working in Sheffield. After a series of experiments, he realised that if a thin layer of silver was fused to a thick layer of copper, and the two metals were beaten or rolled, then the two metals flattened out at even rates. This new material, which was mainly copper but looked like silver from the outside was used for lots of different items and was very popular due to its cost advantages. Sheffield plate was later further refined to include another layer of silver on the underside of the copper, forming a silver sandwich for the copper. This allowed items such as tankards to be made of Sheffield plate, as now both sides of the metal would look like the precious metal and not copper.

Nickel Silver became popular in the 1830′s after the invention of an alloy called German silver. This alloy was made up of copper, nickel and zinc, but had a silvery appearance, so it replaced copper as the base metal in Sheffield plate. This meant that if the surface layer of silver became worn due to polishing or everyday use, then it would not look as obvious- it would be a slightly different shade of grey showing through rather than the distinctive red-brown colour of copper.

EPNS stands for electroplated nickel silver, and is formed of a German silver base metal that has had pure silver electroplated onto its surface. This method is the dominant technique for plating metals today, as only a very thin layer of pure silver is actually needed, so items of jewellery such as a silver necklace can be produced very cheaply for today’s competitive jewellery markets.

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