As the festive season is approaching in India, its considered auspicious to buy some precious metal such as silver and gold during that time. Since this purchase is directly connected to our prosperity, wealth and well-being its important that we know the standards purity as well. Here we are going to provide you a complete guide on silver purity. How this purity is measured. Standards that are used in India and all over the world. Stay tuned with TWEOV, know your precious purchase and explore the world of authentication.
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The purity standards of precious metals as gold , silver and platinum is measured in millesimal fineness. However, for gold, a popular known system is a karat system. In case of measuring silver purity the normal millesimal finess is used.
What is millesimal fineness in measuring silver purity
As we know a 100% pure silver is highly malleable and very soft to carve into any artifacts or jewellery. So certain amount of alloys are mixed with silver to make it more sturdy and usable in daily life. Millesimal finess describes the silver purity in parts per thousand. In other words, it can be said that it represents the purity of silver alloy present in parts per thousand by mass of the pure silver.
Mathematically, it can be represented as
Millesimal Fineness = Purity of Silver Alloy/ 1000 gm Silver
Let’s understand by example. If we say, TWEOV provides authentic 925 sterling silver earrings or any other jewellery it means that its products contain 92.5% pure silver, which is a set standard in India, by Beaureu of Indian Standards (BIS). In this continuity, we can find different silver purity standards that are popular in India and other parts of the world.
Decoding Various Silver Purity Grades
925 Silver
Also known as sterling silver in popular terms is the most popular standard of silver purity used for jewellery and artifacts. It was first used in west for cutleries. The standard is widely accepted in USA, UK , and in Indian Subcontinent. It contains 92.5% of pure silver and 7.5% of alloys. TWEOV uses nickel-free alloys for a sturdy and durable jewellery that is skin-friendly too. The lusture and the shine can be maintained by keeping
999 Silver
This type of silver jewellery is also used for jewellery and artifacts. It’s used to reduce tarnishing effects in silver. However, due to less usage of alloys its not durable for a long run. The items made out of 999 silver purity are easily bendable and adjustable.
900 Silver
Popularly known as ‘coin silver’, having silver purity of 90%. This term was originally coined in USA to give a standardisation to its currency. This standard is widely used for commemorative coins or silver bullion coins.
980 Silver
This standard is widely used in mexico. Considered as another type of sterling silver in the state, this type of silver contains 98% silver purity. Thus, this type of silver is more lustrous but less durable.
958 Silver
This silver is also known as Britannia Silver. This type of standard was started in britain to replace 925 silver in in 1696 under recoinage scheme to avoid clipping and melting of 925 silver coins as raw material in that period . It remained an optional grading system apart from 925 silver after traderes opposing the scheme.
917 Silver
This kind of silver purity was used in minting of Indian silver rupees, during the British raj and for some coins during the first Brazilian Republic.
800 Silver
This type of silver is not widely used as a silver purity standard nowadays, due to low quality. Earlier it was a minimum accepted national standard used in Germany to accept any claimed silver item. It is majorly used in cutlery and dinner-wares.
Silver Purity That Is Commonly Known By It’s Name
Zolotnik Russian Silver
Zolotnik is a measure of weight in Russia, generally used for small weights. There are three silver purity grades in the Russian silver which are neamed as- Zolotnik 91(947.9 purity), Zolotnik 88(916.6 purity), Zolotnik 84(875 purity).
Alpaca Silver / German Silver/ Nickel Silver
They are generally used for the silver purity of 800 or 835. It’s a world-wide believe that Nickel Silver contains very less or no silver at all, however its not verified at any place.
Tibetian/Tribal Silver
Tibetan Silver is a silver with no defined purity standard. You will be amazed to know that this material is imported from china with severe health hazards. These health hazards occur due to the presence of nickle and other toxic alloys such as lead and arsenic. It can be said that its not silver but a ‘silver-coloured’ metal. It’s advisable to avoid wearing this metal specially fir child and pregnant women.
Mexican Silver
Mexico being the highest producer of silver, provides best silver quality for practical use. In Mexican silver the silver purity ranges from 92.5% to 99.9%. This standard is generally followed wide in case of silver jewellery and artifacts.
Difference Between Silver Filled and Silver Plated:
Plated silver involves using a thin veneer of silver, whereas the core and majority of the piece is copper. Plated silver is almost always avoided by silver consumers whereas Silver filled is more authentic which contains inner core and and the surface both made of silver(alloy). Silver Filled products appear at higher end on cost as they contain the actual silver per gram to the core in comparison to silver plated, which may cause harm to your skin as they can be hypoallergenic. TWEOV provides the ‘silver-filled’ authentic silver purity in its products.
The Last Say:
In the end, it won’t be wrong say that as a mango man its not easy to identify silver purity by naked eyes. So its always better to look for these purity grades while purchasing your precious silver jewellery. In India, most commonly used grades for silver are 925 and 999. The BIS grading on silver jewellery always creates a trust value. So, after gaining this information you will be easily able to differentiate between these numbers and the purity standard. So, as an aware customer ask for this BIS purity grade mark on your jewellery next time.
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