Key ring heart in 925 Sterling silver
Etymology of Silver
The origin of the word silver lies in the Old Norse languages: the Goths used the term silbur and the Germanic tribes silabra. The meaning of these terms is light, bright and white - attributes that very aptly describe the effect of the precious metal silver. The chemical symbol for silver - Ag - has a different origin. It is derived from the Latin term for the precious metal, argentum. Argentum, in turn, goes back to the Greek agyrus, which means metallic-white. Argentina was named after the precious metal because the South American country has large natural silver reserves.
Key ring round in 925 Sterling Silver
The most common silver alloys
Pure silver with a fineness of 99.9%, called fine silver, is not suitable for processing into silver jewelry because it is not stable enough.
925 silver is better for this, as it also contains copper and is therefore harder. This silver is also called sterling silver because it was used in Great Britain until 1920 as the basic material for sterlings, the silver pennies of the time. However, this name only caught on in Germany; in England this silver is called standard silver. At RENÉSIM we use 925 sterling silver for our collection of silver accessories. Compared to pure silver, it has a very slight red tint. The material properties of sterling silver are also better because there is no risk of spattering. While normal silver absorbs a large amount of oxygen when molten, which escapes during the solidification process and causes cracks on the surface of the precious metal, this risk does not exist with sterling silver. In the USA, it is stipulated that silver can only be called sterling if the fineness is a minimum of 92.1%. Other silver alloys are jeweler's silver with a fineness of 80% and coin silver with a fineness of 50%. In ancient times, an alloy of copper and silver was used to make coins and was called billon.
Other silver alloys
An example of an alloy that, despite its misleading name, does not contain any silver is nickel silver. It is made up of three components: copper, nickel and zinc.
Nickel silver with a silver-plated surface is used to make cutlery and is known in this context as hotel silver.
Lot as a measure of fineness
The amount of silver in silver alloys (e.g. silver jewelry) was measured in lots until 1886. 16 lots corresponded to a silver content of 100%. 12 lot silver is therefore the same as 750 silver.
The name is derived from the Cologne Mark, which was divided into 16 lots.
Large money clip made of 925 Sterling silver
mining and deposits of silver
Peru is the country in which the largest amount of silver was mined in 2010, with 4,000 tons. Mexico with 3,500 tons, China with 3,000 tons, Australia with 1,700 tons and Chile with 1,500 tons are also among the major producers of silver. In Germany, a lot of silver was mined until 1970, but not anymore today.
Silver in its pure, elemental form is called native silver. It usually has a grainy appearance or the shape of a robust, branched network.
The majority of silver comes from natural deposits of silver ores, where it occurs in association with copper, lead and zinc ores.
Significant sources of silver have been found in Freiberg in the Ore Mountains, in the Austrian town of Schwaz, in Kongsberg in Norway, on the Keweenaw Peninsula in the USA and in the Mexican town of Batopilas.
Things to know
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