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Celebrating Silver
 


Yo check it, Silver ain’t just a pretty face. This is a metal with many practical qualities beyond jewelry. Not that anyone’s complaining about its beauty… we’d just like to honor our stock in trade by telling you some of the little known facts you may have never heard of.


For thousands of years silver has been used for jewelry, ornaments, utensils, trade, and as the foundation for many currencies. In Ancient Egypt and Medieval Europe, silver was often prized more than gold.


The Alchemists – those secretive wizards in funny hats – named the metal Luna and gave as its symbol a crescent moon. They believed it held many mysterious qualities.


Silver is slighter harder than gold and has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, even higher than copper. That’s why it’s used in computer circuits and keyboards… yup, the one you’re using right now to read this.


With its brilliant white, metallic luster, pure silver has the highest heat conductivity and reflectivity of all metals. Now that’s hot!


Silver halides are light sensitive and are what make photographic film work in the first place. You’ve heard of a Kodak moment? Should’ve been called a Silver moment.


Mirrors which require superior reflectivity are made with silver while common mirrors are backed with aluminum. Aluminum? …that’s like so last century!


The words for “silver” and “money” are interchangeable in as many as 14 languages because the shiny substance has been used for cash for a least 23 centuries. The United Kingdom’s currency – Pound Sterling – was originally based on the value of a troy ounce of silver. Cheers mate.


If you’ve had any dental work (and who hasn’t?), you’ll find it in your teeth. Yes, it’s used as an alloy in fillings. Chipping them out and melting them down for cash… not recommended.


Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, told us that silver had healing and anti-bacterial qualities. Before the advent of antibiotics, silver compounds were used to prevent infections. Indeed, Silver has been used for this purpose as far back as the Phoenicians, whom stored water, wine and vinegar in silver bottles to prevent spoiling. In the 1900s, people would even drop a silver dollar in milk bottles to keep their cow juice fresh. Clever, except for the choking hazard.


And of course, the most important usage of all. Silver is an indispensable weapon used to kill vampires and werewolves. If you ever visit Eastern Europe – especially Transylvania – be sure to carry it on your person (usually in the form of a cross or a bullet). We don’t sell vegetables, but we’d like to mention garlic might help too.


So that about sums up silver. We think it’s a great metal. Here’s to thousands more years of the human race using and enjoying silver in our daily lives!




About Silver
 
 

Silver
Silver is a precious metal that has been used for thousands of years for various purposes such as ornaments, tableware, jewelry, photography and money. Its value as a precious metal was long considered second only to gold and in Ancient Egypt and Medieval Europe, it was often valued more than gold. The principal sources of silver are obtained from Canada, Mexico, Peru, Australia and the United States. However, Mexico is the largest producer of silver.

Characteristics of Silver
Silver is one of the chemical elements in the periodic table and is called Ag, short from the Latin term Argentum. It is a brilliant, white lustrous transition metal that is very ductile, malleable and endures a high degree of polish.

Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, even higher than copper, but its greater cost has prevented it from being widely used in place of copper for electrical purposes. It also has the highest thermal conductivity, highest optical reflectivity and the lowest contact resistance of any metal.

Silver is stable in pure air and water, but does tarnish when it is exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air that has sulfur compounds present in the atmosphere. Tarnish and dirt on fine sterling silver jewelry can be removed gently using a jewelry polishing cloth. These jewelry polishing cloths are chemically treated with nontoxic cleaning and polishing agents which are specially formulated to restore the fine silver luster.

Click here or go to our Accessories section to check out our polishing cloths.


Silver Jewelry
The metal silver has been chosen for its beauty and luster in the manufacture of jewelry and silverware. Because it is malleable and easy to work with, silver has been fashioned in to rings, bracelets, earrings and other jewelry pieces. However, silver has a low resistance to pressure and can be easily bent. To make silver tougher and more durable, silver is often alloyed with other metals, which results in different types of silver. Based on the content of the other metals mixed in to the silver, silver is usually identified by hallmarks. A hallmark is generally an indication of metal content, purity and quality that is marked on individual pieces. For example, sterling silver, by definition is a mix of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper alloy. Therefore, pieces using sterling silver are commonly tagged or engraved with 925 Silver or SS.

Silvexonline.com Purity Guarantee
Silvexonline.com guarantees that all of our Sterling silver merchandise is purely 925 Sterling or above. At Silvexonline.com, we regularly assay* test for 925-and-above Sterling silver in order to provide our customers with the highest quality.

Assay*
Assay is the process for testing the purity of silver and other precious metals. This testing determines the qualitative and/or quantitative analysis to determine its components. In order to be considered actual Sterling silver, the qualitative analysis would show that it was made up of silver and part copper. The quantitative analysis would show at least 92.5% to be silver and 7.5% to be copper.

Generally, a small sample is removed and tested in various processes for evaluation. Fire assay, chemical assay and laser assay testing are some of the most popular methods.

Although there are companies who provide these types of assay services, Sterling silver is very easy to test. There are assay testing kits are available for purchase, like at http://shorinternational.com/TestGold.htm or Sterling silver can be tested with some Nitric acid.

To test for Sterling silver with Nitric acid, drop a small amount of acid on the sample. If it turns a creamy color, it is Sterling silver. If it turns green, it is not Sterling silver and could be silver-plated brass, nickel silver or other low quality silver alloys.

Please note, for plated silver jewelry, like rhodium or gold-plated, the sample must be either cut or have the plating removed in order to perform and gather accurate testing results.

Silvexonline.com guarantees that our sterling silver merchandise is 925 sterling or above.