Riyo Gems - Things you should know about Jewellery

- Purity of Silver is measured in percentage. Most pure Silver is of 100%. .925% is the Sterling Standard. Very much like Gold - Silver is asoft metal and gets erroder very easily in pure frm, so some other metal is mixed with it to use it for ornaments or coins or for other domestic purpuses. Most coins in the past were made of Silver with much lower purity - in many cases it was below 70 %.

- Sterling Silver jewelry is an alloy that contains a mixture of 92.5% pureSilver and 7.5% of another metal, usually Copper. In order to be called Sterling Silver, the metal must possess at least 92.5% pure Silver, but the other components can vary. When mixed with copper, SterlingSilver will tarnish and may firescale.

- Firescale, also known as firestain, is a red or purple stain that appears on mixtures of silver and copper, such as sterling silver. At high temperatures, oxygen mixes with the copper to form cuprous oxide and then cupric oxide.

- The difference between Precious and Non-Precious metals is primarily one of rarity and value. Precious metals include Gold, Silver and the Platinum family while Non-Precious metals include all others. In addition to having a higher value, Precious metals are particularly desirable for jewelry because they are less reactive than most elements, possess a higher luster and are easier to work with.


- In creating jewellery, gemstones, coins, or other precious items are often used, and they are typically set into precious metals. Alloys of nearly every metal known have been encountered in jewellery. Bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Modern fine jewellery usually includes gold, white gold, platinum, palladium, titanium, or silver. Most contemporary gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is stated in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. American gold jewellery must be of at least 10K purity (41.7% pure gold), (though in the UK the number is 9K (37.5% pure gold) and is typically found up to 18K (75% pure gold). Higher purity levels are less common with alloys at 22 K (91.6% pure gold), and 24 K (99.9% pure gold) being considered too soft for jewellery use in America and Europe. 


Sources : Wikipedia, Riyo Gems, and others.