A nugget of silver
By Ray Lundin – Gemologist
Silver is now selling at about $35 an ounce. So, when buying silver jewelry, know what you are buying and how much silver is in the item. Almost everyone has heard of sterling silver. Just what does that mean?
Sterling silver
“Sterling” silver means that the article is composed of an alloy of at least 92.5 percent silver; the other parts of the alloy being composed of base metals such as nickel, tin, antimony and copper. Sterling silver is also known as “solid silver” although, it contains up to 7.5 percent parts of metal other than silver. The word “sterling” has no significance as to the gauge or weight of the article. In other words, a sterling article could be very light or thin. Some silver articles, for example, candlesticks, may have bases that are filled with other material to give them balance, in which case, they may be marked as “weighted” or “loaded.” Some kitchen silverware has large hollow handles that are “loaded” with some substance other than silver. If any foreign-made silver articles do not come up to the American standard of 92.5 percent silver, they cannot be described as sterling and the silver content should be indicated (e.g., 800/1000 parts silver). “Coin Silver” is at least 90 percent pure silver. Jewelry made of silver parts and gold parts would have marks such as “sterling and 1/5 10K.”
Silver plated
Silver-Plated tableware and jewelry are made by electro-plating silver to a base metal, although it could be made, but rarely now, by applying sheet of silver to a base metal. The thickness of silver on silver electro-plated articles may be only 1/100,000 of an inch. Sterling or solid silver flatware or tableware is produced in varying weights, but there are no legal requirements. By trade custom, it is made in weights known as trade, medium, heavy and extra heavy. The difference in weight between these grades, on sterling spoons, is about 2 ounces per dozen spoons. On silver plated flatware (such as spoons, etc.), weight of the article itself means nothing because it is made of base metal with only an electro-plating of silver. The markings on some such plated ware could be misleading.
Sheffield-plate
The discovery of Sheffield-plate was one of those strange accidents by which art and commerce are occasionally enriched. In 1742, Thomas Boulsover, an ingenious mechanic in Sheffield, England, rediscovered the art of overlapping one metal upon another, as previously practiced by the Assyrians who overlapped iron and bronze. Boulsover made Sheffield-plate by taking an ingot of copper, somewhat in the form of a brick, and placing upon it a thick sheet of silver; the two were then bound together and fired upon an open hearth by fire of charcoal. When the correct temperature had been reached, the ingot with the sheet of silver was withdrawn from the fire and a union of the two metals was affected. He found that when placed under rollers, the two metals could be elongated and that he could produce sheet metal with silver on one side and copper on the other. Eventually a furnace was invented in which silver could be fused on both sides of the copper simultaneously. A product made by the Boulsover method in Sheffield, England, is true Sheffield-Plate and is now antique. Sheffield-plating was discontinued about 1850. Electro-plated ware is not Sheffield-plate.
Nevada Comstock Lode
In 1858 Henry T.P. Comstock discovered silver in Nevada. When digging a hole for water for their “rockers,” two miners found gold and some heavy blue-black material which clogged the rocker and interfered with the washing out of the fine gold. When assayed, however, it turned out to be almost pure silver. Comstock eventually sold his holdings for $11,000. After going broke, Comstock committed suicide while prospecting unsuccessfully in Montana. Peak production from the Comstock Lode occurred in 1877 with the mines producing more than $14 million in gold and $21 million in silver that year (about $270 million and $400 million in “today’s money (2007). Production of the silver played out by 1880.
