What is 925 Sterling Silver?

What does the hallmark 925 mean on silver jewellery?

The 925 stamp on silver jewellery is all about the purity of the silver. It means that for every 1000 parts of material in the jewellery piece, 925 parts must be made of silver and no more than 75 parts should be a different metal. It breaks down into 92.5% silver and 7.5% an additional metal.

Sterling Silver Vs Silver Plated

Sterling silver as we know is often made up of pure silver combined with a small percentage of copper. Adversely, silver plated jewellery contains only an alloy of real silver, with a base metal of nickel, copper or brass. 

Over time, silver plated jewellery will begin to fade and tarnish away, exposing the base metal. Those who have sensitive skin may find a reaction occurs when this happens because of the presence of nickel. You may find after purchasing jewellery from high street shops that the silver layer has worn off to reveal a different coloured metal below. We can guarantee you, our jewellery will never do that!

There’s no doubt that 925 sterling silver jewellery is better than silver plated jewellery in appearance, quality and longevity of life.

Know what you're looking for!

Be careful!! Especially when buying jewellery online the item description can just read 'silver' when actually it is silver plated but the price would reflect that of sterling silver. To avoid getting ripped off or buying a product you thought to be 925 sterling silver, check the FAQs on the website or 'About us' as sometimes these pages highlight what their products are made of. If not you can always email the company using the contact us section to ask what the piece of jewellery is made of.

If you are out in a jewellery shop the easiest way to check if an item is sterling silver is to look for a small hallmark on the item that reads '925' this is often located at the clasp or on the side of the piece of jewellery.