How to Find out the Authenticity of Your Silver jewelry

Sterling silver is the only kind of silver that is permitted to be used for making silverware or jewelry in United States. Sterling silver contains 92.5 percent pure silver and is harder than it. The law requires all silver articles to be stamped ‘925’ as an authentication that they are made of Sterling silver. Sterling silver tarnishes with time. This is why jewelers often coat the jewelry with .999 silver or rhodium, to make it shiny. However, cheap imitations of silver items can be seen in the market. To keep yourself aware and to know if you own real silver jewelry, take the following steps:

Procedure:

The safest precaution is to get your jewelry from a reputed shopkeeper.

If your jewelry has been purchased from unknown or dicey places, there is a big possibility that it is fake. The best way to be sure about the authenticity and purity of your jewelry is to purchase from a branded store like Tiffany’s. if you plan to buy silver jewelry from some other store or online, do a check on the reputation of the store before, and there are sites online such as jewellers hornsby that offer great quality jewelry as well.

Make sure your jewelry has the 925 mark or Sterling tag attached.

As mentioned above, if the jewelry is genuinely Sterling, it will have a 925 or Sterling stamp on it. The stamp is a very tiny mark on the jewelry and cannot be seen without the help of a magnifying glass. You will usually find it at the clasp of neck-pieces and inside the bracelets or the rings.

Check the jewelry for any discolorations.

Jewelry made of Sterling silver tarnishes and becomes dull, particularly if it has no plating. But discoloration is a different thing altogether. There may be some pieces of silver containing copper. The copper on use will undergo oxidation, after which it reacts with the skin to form a reddish brown or green stain. Silver jewelry that shows these discolorations is definitely not real.

Get help from a professional jeweler.

Apart from getting your bracelets and other jewelry items from a legitimate shop, you may also order them from a jeweler like Toner Jewelers. Professional jewelers can tell you if your jewelry is real or fake by a simple acid test. This procedure requires a very little amount of silver from any part of the jewelry that is not noticeable and then dropping a little bit of nitric acid on it. The resultant liquid after the reaction should be opaque gray in color to prove the authenticity. If however the liquid is green in color, then your jewelry is definitely fake.

Silver jewelry is usually a very productive investment as it goes fairly well with almost all your outfits. So make sure that your jewelry is genuine Sterling, for such an investment should last long term. Take a look at impressive natural gemstone rings from Ringleaders if you plan on proposing to yuor girlfriend.