Testing Silver and Silver Grades

The law requires metal to be marked by the maker and the metal quality. For sterling, the mark will be either the numbers 925 (meaning 92.5 % silver, which is sterling) or a "sterling" stamp with the words. Look near the clasp for the mark, at the end of the chain. Sometimes the mark is on a little flat looking ring at the end of the chain.

Sterling silver will tarnish and on some people it tarnishes quickly due to body chemistry, and on others it never tarnishes. To keep tarnish from happening, sterling is very often plated with another metal to protect the sterling and keep the tarnish from happening. The plating will be a metal called "rhodium" which is very bright or another metal recently used on silver that look more the color of silver. The chain can be View the rest of this article