Maintaining Silver jewellery

How to Maintain Silver Jewellery


1)Water is the main reason for the damage of silver jewellery. Thus while going for a bath, swim or even for spa or steam baths make sure you remove your silver jewellery. Many people think that wiping it well with dry cloths removes the affect of water but that is completely a wrong notion. Water is so damaging that one should avoid keeping it in damp places in the room.
 2)To increase the longevity and texture of the silver jewellery it is best to keep it in a closet or in a box. Dirt or dust never collects over the surfaces and the luster and look is sustained for long. Atleast make sure you have wrapped them in tissue or cotton after removal.
3)Make sure that the silver jewellery that you wear is not exposed to scratches. This is found in bangles or wristlets mostly which are constantly exposed to the desk surfaces leading to scratch marks on its surface and even discolourization of a part of the silver jewellery.
4)Remember to keep away cosmetics and chemical products away from your silver jewellery. Thus make sure they do not come in contact with any kind of body lotions, perfumes or deodorants. This may actually lead to darkening of the metal.

Types of Metals

Typesof Metals


In processing industry and in gem & Jewellery manufacture we find different types of metals are being used. Some of these are mentioned by names and sometimes these are referred to by their types. Here is a list of six types to which most metals belong. Some metals have their presence in more than one berth.

1. Precious Metals: Metal that has intrinsic economic value is considered as a precious one. Economic value is determined by factors such as rarity of the metal, use of the metal in industrial processing, jewellery and coinage, usefulness as an investment vehicle and has potency of being traded widely in an established exchange house or in an over the counter market. Gold, Silver and Platinum are key precious metals. Platinum is an extensively traded metal in the platinum group whose other members are: Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Osmium, and Iridium. Out of these Rhodium is the priciest item. One of the standalone metals is Titanium which is deemed to be the strongest metal on earth

2. Non-Precious Metal: Any metal that is not classified under precious one is given a blanket description of non-precious metal. Iron, Steel, Lead, Zinc, Tin and Copper are few of the non-precious metals used in processing industry

3. Noble Metals: Metal that has resistance to corrosion or oxidization against air and moisture is grouped under the flag of noble metal. Gold, Silver, Members of the Platinum Group and Titanium are noble metals

4. Base Metals: Metals that oxidize, tarnish or corrode relatively easily when exposed to air and moisture are termed base metals. Base metals have two characteristics: these are available in plenty and the prices are fairly low. Examples include: Aluminium, Lead, Nickel, Copper, Tin, Zinc and Iron

5. Ferrous Metals: The word ‘Ferrus” denotes iron in Latin. By extension, any metal that has iron present in it to an appreciable extent is treated as ferrous metal. In the alternative, an alloy that has high iron content is also given the same label. A prominent ferrous metal is steel used in almost all industrial processes. Surprisingly gem & jewellery fabrication has waken up to the idea of using stainless steel in turning out accessories

6. Non-Ferrous Metals: Metals that do not contain iron in appreciable quantum are flagged as non-ferrous metals. These are priced higher than ferrous metals. Certainly prices for Aluminium, Copper, Tin and Zinc are quoted relatively higher than that of iron in the market place.

How Check Silver Jewellery Purity

How Check  Silver Jewellery Purity

When You are buying silver jewellery, you have to ask the seller how much silver is in the piece as jewellery metal. Unlike in the case of gold jewellery hallmarking in silver is treated with a kid glove. Though there are legal teeth enforcing this for international trade, domestic street jewellers shy away from the practice of hallmarking due to the cost factor. Nevertheless, if you ask them, most jewellers or their sales assistants would oblige by giving you the percentage of silver that went into the article. This is what we call as purity of silver.

The purity of silver, is determined by a Metric system that takes into account the Millesimal Fineness of the main metal used in a piece of jewellery. Basically this denotes purity of the main metal as parts per thousand of the mass of the alloy. Such a purity can be conveyed in three forms. One is to express it as a percentage of the mass of alloy say 99.9%; another way is to say it in number as 999; or in decimal form as 0.999. The decimal representation is also supplemented with the common name in which it is popularly known. For example 0.999 is added with the tag “fine silver”.

The fine silver is pure silver that is much malleable and ductile shining with the lustre and brightness comparable to gold. Yet it is too brittle and breaks and bends while on the production table. Hence, it is necessary to add external metals as alloys to give fine silver strength and hardness and other features necessary to make durable jewellery. There are several combinations in which such alloys can be made. Still a common rule applies: in order for a piece of jewellery to be sold as silver jewellery it must contain at-least 50% silver as the main metal. In certain countries legislation provides a legal minimum for silver in jewellery. For example in the USA, unless it contains 925 silver it cannot be marketed as silverjewellery. Elsewhere jewellers have more elbow room. They turn out pieces with varying percentage of silver in it. Here are few of the most commonplace ones:

1. 925 Silver: Alternatively known as ‘sterling silver” this type contains 925 silver per thousand. By and large, sterling silver is toasted as the standard in many countries including USA and UK. Most jewellers have pleasure in fabricating eye-pleasing 925 jewellery articles using different metals as alloys adding up to 75 parts per thousand. An interesting feature of alloying is that sometimes the resultant material carries the name of the major alloy used there in addition to silver. When silver 925 is alloyed with germanium it is referred to as “Argentum silver”; likewise when Palladium is the major alloy used in an article it goes as “Palladium silver”

2. 935 Silver: Used more in hand-made jewellery 935 silver contains that amount of silver per thousand and an alloy of 65 per thousand. This type of silver is more amenable for intricate carving and exquisite form of gem & jewellery

3. 958 Silver: Alternatively known as “Britannica silver” this type contains 958 silver per thousand with the remaining as alloy metals. Notably, 958 comes out well in thin and soft pieces such as chains

4. 950 Silver: Though the silver content is restricted to 950 per thousand, this type is most popular in France and Mexico where once upon a time this was the silver standard in coins in the respective countries

5. 900 Silver: Once the silver standard for coins in USA, 900 silver is popularly known as “coin silver” amongst the jewellers. However, it does not restrict the name coin silver being used for an alloy containing less than 900 per thousand. Exercise care when dealing with silver jewellery marked as coin silver grade. It is better to see the hallmarking in addition to the name coin silver in such piece of silver jewellery.

Home Remedies for Clean Silver Jewellery

 Home Remedies for Clean Silver Jewellery

This fact that most woman specially the youth in India prefers wearing junk and silver jewellery over diamond,gold and  platinum . Because It gives them to chose more design and change with trends because it is cheap than diamond,platimun and Gold.
Most office women or college going girld  prefer wearing silver studs and junks which are easy to afford and are current stylish design. But the problem of  silver jewellery as part of daily fashion is that they tend to get blacked or darkened with time. But  there are several methods to bring back the shine of the silver which are being given in the following and we can avoid problems
How to Clean Silver Jewellery At home

Apply a little of toothpaste on a unused toothbrush and rub on the surface of the silver jewellery gently and also in a circular motion. But make sure that the toothpaste does not have a gel base. Put the jewellery under thorough rinsing and the shine has been restored. The black patch on the jewellery is the combined effect of dirt, dust and moisture which forms a stubborn layer on the metal.

Another home solution is Baking soda .Make a mixture of hot water and baking soda and apply it on the jewellery surface with a piece of cotton cloth. You can also apply toothbrush to apply this mixture. The surface should be cleaned and dried and the black tarnish would be gone. It is a good cleansing agent and helps to get rid of the darkening effect on the jewellery with ease.

One can rub the surface of the silver jewellery with the remaining water of a boiled potato. One can even store this water for future use.

Baby shampoos can be applied with a mild brush to remove stains from the silver jewellery. But make sure you wipe the shampoo with a dry cloth rather than rinsing thoroughly in water.

If you do not want to follow the above methods follow a regular rule take precautions beforehand which includes removing silver jewellery at night and wiping it with a clean dry cotton to stop the accumulation of the black darkened layer.