With big look jewellery now highly fashionable, Silver is often used by jewellers who prefer precious metal in their designs rather than simply using a coated base metal. Whilst less expensive than Gold, Silver is still a very costly alternative to base metals, so designs tend to incorporate hollow silver tubes and pressed pieces over casted components. As this precious metal is extremely pliable, beautiful intricate designs can be created. It also benefits from a wonderful lustre, a lustre which is so strong that it is used as a component in mirrors where a superior level of reflectivity is required!
What you may not know is that Silver is sometimes used as an alloy in gold to turn it white. In 9k White Gold, it is possible for the Silver content to be of a higher level than the Gold (9k Gold has a minimum fineness of 37.5%, with 62.5% being made up of different alloys).
Another interesting fact about Silver is that for over 2700 years it has been used as a currency in many countries. So much so that the word for money and silver is the same in at least 14 languages. The French word ‘Argent’ for example means both money and Silver. As Silver is the best conductor of electricity - even better than copper - the biggest use of Silver today is in industry, with only 19% of all production being in jewellery and 6% being made into Silverware. That said, coins and medals still account for over 4% of the annual usage of Silver.
In the UK it is a legal requirement to hallmark all Silver items over 7.78 grams. There are four levels of fineness: 80% (hallmarked 800), 92.5% (hallmarked 925 and commonly known as Sterling Silver, 95.8% (hallmarked 958 and known as Britannia Silver) and 99.9%.
According to the 2007 British Geological Survey, Peru is the world’s top producer of Silver, closely followed by Mexico. The next eight largest suppliers in descending order are; China, Chile, Australia, Poland, Russia, United States, Canada and Kazakhstan.
