How Do I Know What I am Really Buying? Part 3

Last  time we said: Well it looks like silver, but is it?

And now we get into an interesting situation. Two different metals, one of which is a silver alloy, and one of which contains no silver at all – with the same name: Britannia. But they have very different markings.

The first Britannia was, and still is, a standard measure of silver purity in Great Britain. This metal is 95.84% pure silver and 4.16 per cent copper or other metals. The Britannia standard was enacted in Britain in 1697 to try to prevent craftsmen from melting silver coins and reusing them for flatware and hollow ware. It is traditionally stamped 958.

The second form of Britannia contains no silver at all. It is 92% Tin, 6% Antimony, and 2% Copper. It can be stamped “BRITANNIA” or “EPMM”, which stands for “electroplated Britannia Metal”. It is commonly used to make inexpensive hollow ware that is plated with silver. It is also used to make the statues for the Oscars, which are then gold plated.

German Silver contains no silver at all. It is actually a nickel alloy. The alloy that I buy contains 65% copper, 17% zinc, and 18% nickel. I use it mostly for chains, like the one in the picture below. It gives the look of silver without the expense. People with Nickel allergies need to avoid German Silver.

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And just because it is “silver colored” doesn’t make it inexpensive. Some rather expensive metals are “silver colored”, for example, Platinum.  For a while there Platinum was even more expensive than gold, but now it has come down a bit and is about $250 less than gold, per ounce. Still not an inexpensive purchase.  Platinum is a fairly rare metal and requires temperatures of over 3000 degrees Fahrenheit to cast, so it is rarely used by small independent jewelers.  Platinum jewelry can be stamped “Plat”, “Platinum”,  ” 900 Platinum”, “950 Platinum” or  “586 Plat” depending on exactly the purity level of the metal.

There are obviously many other silver colored metals out there, including tin, pewter, lead, chrome, and aluminum. None of these are currently considered to be precious metals. Back in the early 1900’s aluminum was considered to a really amazing metal, because of its silver appearance but light weight. I have seen some incredible engraved opera glasses and hollowware from this timeframe. Today aluminum is used in jewelry manufacture because it is lightweight and can be polished up nicely. But it is not a precious metal.

So we have now reviewed the major types of precious metals, which we expect to pay more money for because of the increased cost of the basic materials. If you are interested in non-precious metals, and why  a crafts person, like me,  might choose to use specific metals for an assortment of projects, I wrote a blog series about that earlier this year. Choosing Which Metal  to Use, talks about what metals were actually used in period and the decisions that modern jewelers have to make.

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4

Next Time: Plating and Filled Metal

How Do I Know What I am Really Buying? Part 2

Last time we talked a bit about gold and its alloys. This time the topic is silver.

Trivia! Silver was often valued more highly in ancient times than gold because it was less common and more difficult to extract. Gold is naturally found in nugget and crystal form. Silver is sometimes found naturally in conjunction with gold. An alloy of gold and silver, called electrum, was used by 700 BC in coinage, and yes, even the Vikings used electrum.

 Anatolian coins – made of electrum.

The vast majority of solid silver items in the US are made from Sterling Silver. The standard for Sterling Silver in the US is .925, which means that it is 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals. These metals may include copper, germanium, and other trace metals. The “sterling” stamp is commonly used in the US, but it is also acceptable to use a “925” stamp. Outside of the US the stamp usually says “925”. Like gold, Sterling Silver’s color can vary, depending on exactly what sort of metals are in that 7.5%, but silver is generally valued for its “white shiny” appearance. In fact, the ancient Latin word for silver, Argentum, literally means “shiny”. And that leads us to a specialized form of Sterling Silver.

An increasingly popular form of Sterling Silver is Argentium Silver. This is actually a patented formulation that results in a thin layer of germanium on the surface of the sterling. The germanium layer is tough and resists oxidation- this means that the piece will not tarnish easily. While I know people who work with Argentium, it is still fairly uncommon among small producers, because it is a bit fussy. For instance, you can cool regular Sterling by dunking it in water. If you do that with Argentium silver it will shatter like glass. The Argentium that my metal supplier sells is stamped “935”.

Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver. It is usually stamped “999”, or “999F”. Fine Silver is rarely used for jewelry like rings because of its softness. Many enamelists cast their pieces in fine silver, or use fine silver sheet to enamel on, because it is an excellent base for enameling. The lack of copper in this silver means that there is less danger of the enamels changing color by absorbing the copper. Real glass enamel is colored using metal salts.

Coin silver was a standard in the US for silver coins prior to 1964. This silver is 90% silver, or .90. Coin silver from other countries may vary in silver content.

Terms like Bali Silver, Thai Silver, and Indian Silver have no legal meaning in the US metals market. The item must be stamped with a legal stamp to have meaning. I know merchants who sell Balinese silver that is guaranteed to be 925. And it is all stamped  925.

Company hallmarks can often be used on historic silver pieces to determine the actual type of silver that was used. This is an art in and of itself, and many books have been written on this topic, so I will not be discussing it.

Next Time: Well it looks like silver, but is it?

How Do I Know What I am Really Buying?

WARNING:  If someone tells you something is “gold” or “silver” they may just be talking about the color, and hoping that you will assume it is a precious metal. Real precious metal will be stamped with its purity.

Recently several customers have asked me to explain a bit more about metal and how it is marked in jewelry. They also were wondering what happens to people who lie about the precious metal content of the pieces that they sell.

First let’s talk about precious metal in general. Many different alloys are sold today in the United States, some of which are marketed and copyrighted. The rules for precious metal do vary between countries, and over time, so I will focus on current US rules.

Let’s start with gold. The purity of gold is designated by the term Karats (K) it is a proportion and not a weight. (The term “carat” is a unit of weight that is commonly used for precious stones.) The most common designations for gold are 24K, 22K, 18K, 14K, 12K, and 10K. 24K gold, is considered to be pure gold. It is very rarely used to make jewelry because it is too soft, and will scratch and bend easily. Other metals are added to gold to create an alloy, and this reduces the purity. The added metals may include nickel, zinc, silver, copper and palladium. The color of the final metal and its working properties are the result of the metals that are in the alloy. This is why we have white gold, yellow gold, pink gold, and rose gold, just to name a few. Those terms all refer to the color of the metal, but they do not tell you what the purity of the gold is. Purity is designated completely by the Karat number.

Still confused about Karat weight? Think of it this way. 24K is pure, therefore 12K contains half the amount of gold to other metals that 24K does.

English: Crystaline Gold

English: Crystaline Gold (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have had several folks ask about  the cost of gold filled items in my shop (more about filled vs plated later). If you are purchasing precious metal jewelry, it is important to know what the “spot price” of metal is. It is also important to know that most jewelers do not pay the spot price for their precious metal.  Spot price is the commodity price that an ounce of precious metal is traded at on the commodity exchange. This price is usually only available for folks who are buying over 100,000 ounces. The vast majority of jewelers purchase their metal from a jewelry supplier, by the ounce. The precious metal starts out as bullion (small bricks). Every time the metal changes hands, or is modified (turned into wire or sheet or casting grain) there is an up charge to cover the labor and equipment and allow for a profit. For example, if the spot price of gold is $1,187.70, which it was this past week, I would be paying about $1237.95 per ounce for casting grain. 24K gold wire, because it requires more processing than casting grain, would cost me $1251.62 per ounce. That is $63.92 more than spot per ounce. And how much is an ounce? Well, my simple gold wedding band is about 1/10 of an ounce. That means that the gold alone, no labor, is worth $125.17.

Next Time: Silver Alloys