Different forms of Silver used in Tiaras and Jewellery
Basically, silver can be divided into two main types - silver plate and solid silver:
Silver plate
Silver plate is a thin layer of silver over a base metal (sometimes described as sterling silver plate) The plating can wear off in time.
Silver plate is relatively inexpensive because of the low silver content.
Most handmade tiaras and some mass produced tiaras are made with silver plate.
Sterling silver
Sterling silver is solid silver and an alloy of pure silver with a small amount of another metal, usually copper. The amount of silver is at least 92.5% which is why it is often stamped 925. Because there is no plating to wear off it will last.
Sterling silver is of much higher value than silver plate, because of the higher amount of precious metal.
A few handmade tiaras are made in sterling silver.
We make a small selection of tiaras in sterling silver. Here is an example with freshwater pearls:
Many of our silver plated tiaras could also be made in sterling silver - if you are interested in this service, please contact us for a quote
Argentium silver
This is a revolutionary new type of 92.5% solid silver but alloyed with germanium instead of copper giving it a higher resistance to tarnishing. This also is stamped 925.
Fine silver
Fine silver is pure solid silver but this time without the addition of another metal - it is 99.9% pure silver, (described as such because nothing can ever be guaranteed 100% pure) and to all intents and purposes it is pure silver. This is often stamped 999.
Fine silver has the highest silver content and so has the highest value. It is less resistant to tarnishing than sterling silver because it contains no copper.
A few handmade tiaras are made in fine silver.
Silver Coloured
Sometimes the term "silver" is used to refer to just the colour of a product - often described as silver tone or silver coloured - this then will have no silver content but will be silver coloured. German silver, also, contains no silver but is silver coloured.
Mass produced tiaras are often made in a silver coloured material.
Other silvers from around the world
Silver alloys produced in other countries can have varying percentages of silver content and so may be stamped accordingly with that number
An example of vintage silver plate
Here's a wonderful example of old silver plate - you can see the remaining silver plate, the underlying base metal (looks to me like copper) and tarnish inside which hasn't been polished off.
Even though the intrinsic silver value of this has been destroyed with time, the piece to me has a kind of beauty of it's own with the pleasing 2 tone finish telling it's story of my grandmother!
