Silver Jewelry

Sterling silver is composed of 92.5% silver alloyed with copper to strengthen it. Silver has one of the highest reflectivity of any metal, giving it unmatched brilliance, making it perfect for jewelry designs. Silver also has extremely high electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. Despite all these wonderful properties silver is relatively abundant and easy to extract from ore, so it is, at the same time, relatively affordable making it ideal for jewelry that will appeal to a wide audience.

At various time in history silver was even more valued than gold and had a mystical allure to it, often being associated with the sea, moon and lunar goddesses. Hallmarking of silver places a stamped mark on the silver to identify its origin and purity and is often an important part of determining the value of a collectible piece.

There are other alloys of silver with a higher content of silver than sterling. Mexican and Brittania silver each have about 95% silver. Coin silver on the other hand typically has only 90% silver.

The cleaning of sterling silver can be a burdensome task, which is why much of the silver jewelry manufactured today has various types of anti-tarnish finishes ranging from a flash overlay of pure silver, waxes, proprietary coatings and the currently very popluar rhodium plating. Rhodium in fact is a much more expensive raw material, but does not have quite the high brilliance of silver, however its superior anti-tarnish property outweigh its lower reflectivity value.

                                                Care and Cleaning of Silver Jewelry

Some silver jewelry is treated to resist tarnishing. Other silver jewelry is supposed to tarnish (patina) to give it an antique look. But, if your silver jewelry is not tarnish proof, you may want to wrap it in tissue paper with anti-tarnish strips.
Cleaning silver jewelry may be done with a polishing cloth and cream that may be purchased in any jewelry store, jewelry department and in most drug stores. A cleaning dip may be used on jewelry that does not contain stones, CZ's, glass, leather, etc.
Try to limit your silver jewelry to exposure to salt water (ocean), body fragrances, soap and household cleaners or chemicals. Do not wear in hot tubs or pools. Some people have a skin chemistry that can turn silver black. This is particularly difficult to clean.



At different times and places in history, silver has been more valuable than gold and though that is not the case today, silver's rise in price, in the past 10 years, has out paced gold. When gold was $360.00 and ounce, silver traded at around $3.00 and ounce. Today, while gold has risen about 400%, silver prices have risen about 900%. Not since the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the silver market in the late 1970's has the price of silver been so high. It reached $50.00 an ounce then. It stands in the high $20.00's today.
How high will it go? That depends on the world economy. A better more stable economy with more jobs, more output and consumption, combined with more personal savings and less debt should bring the price of precious metals down to more affordable levels.
But, until then, treat your silver like gold.

Gold Jewelry

The following information is courtesy of Sun Fashion Designs®

"Karat" is a measurement of gold content. 
"Carat" is a measurement of gem stone weight.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VARIOUS "KARAT" RATINGS OF GOLD?

Pure gold is 24K and is rarely used in jewelry because it is too soft. It is often used as decoration, i.e. gold leaf. Gold is normally mixed with copper and silver for yellow gold; or nickel, zinc and copper for white gold. 10K gold is 42% gold and 58% alloy. 14K is 58% gold and 42% alloy. 18K is 75% gold and 25% alloy. Solid gold is NOT necessarily pure gold, but gold of whatever purity, throughout.

THE "GOLD" STAMP

In the past, all gold pieces carried a stamp indicating the karat value of the piece. Recently, this has been changing. To save time and money, manufacturers have taken to stamping pieces that have a large enough, design free area to carry a standard size stamp. Otherwise, they have been stamping the attachment, i.e. bezel or bale. 

WHAT DO THE TERMS GOLD FILLED, GOLD OVERLAY AND GOLD ELECTROPLATE MEAN?

Gold filled is an overlay of 10K gold or better, bonded by means of heat and pressure to a base metal (usually brass). By Federal standards, the weight of the gold must be at least 1/20th of the total weight of the metal. If referred to as gold filled , the jewelry must be stamped with the weight and fineness of the gold. For example: 1/20 14K; or 14KGF. (If GF is used the weight is not required).

Gold overlay is manufactured by the same method as gold filled, however, the weight of the gold can be less than 1/20th the weight of the metal. It can also be called gold plate, rolled gold plate and rolled gold. It must carry a quality stamp as required for gold filled; for example: 1/40 12K.

Gold electroplate is gold that has been electrolytically deposited on a base metal. By Federal standards, in order to be called gold electroplate (or G.E.), the gold must be at least 7 mils (millionths of an inch) of an inch thick and of a fineness of 10K or better. The words goldtone and gold wash are Federally approved terms for items less than 7 mils, however, "layered in 14K gold" is commonly used. There is no Federal standard for the word "layered", so it can mean any thickness of gold, even as low as 1 mil.

The words "Heavy Gold Electroplate" (HGE) can only be used if the thickness of the gold is 100 mils or more. There are 40 mils to a micron, and occasionally you will hear H.G.E. referred to as 2 1/2 microns of gold.

ISN'T GOLD FILLED BETTER THAN GOLD ELECTROPLATE?

Not necessarily. It depends on the thickness of the gold electroplate. Consider what happens when a chain is made of gold filled material. A length of brass wire, which has a thin layer of gold on the outside, is drawn, stretched, bent, stamped, polished, etc. Some areas end up with little or no gold, while other areas might have more than needed. Electroplating deposits the gold in a uniform manner on the surface of the metal. If the gold is applied heavy enough, the finished product is superior to gold filled.

HOW CAN I DETERMINE THE THICKNESS OF THE GOLD?

No one can tell the thickness of the gold just by looking at the piece. The most accurate method of measuring thickness is with special x-ray equipment, and even then the operator must know the exact alloy composition in order to get an accurate measurement.

WHAT ABOUT GOLD ITEMS ON THE FOREMOST JEWELRY SITE?

All gold jewelry at FOREMOST is 14K solid gold unless otherwise stated. Charms and pendants are usually molded on one side and concave on the other (like a jell-o mold), to make the piece larger for the weight and to make the piece "lie" better. 

Flat pieces may be etched on one or both sides. 

3D pieces, on the site, are marked as such. On 3D pieces the theme carries through on both sides. These items are heavier, for the size and are, therefore more expensive for the size.

"Puffed" pieces are 3D, but are hollow in the center. They are, also, more expensive than standard charms. 

VERMEIL?

Vermeil jewelry is sterling silver overlaid with gold, very often 22K.