Precious metals, like silver, gold and platinum are actually very soft. The higher the precious metal purity, the softer the alloy will be.
For this reason Sterling Silver, the silver alloy grade most commonly and suitably used for jewellery, is an alloy of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper or other metals, which creates strength. Sterling Silver therefore preserves the high precious metal content and all the inherent aesthetic benefits of silver, but also has the added 'hardness' bestowed as an alloy with copper.
All Sterling silver will tarnish over time. It's important to clean your silver regularly
to avoid excessive tarnishing. Heavy tarnish is far harder to remove than a light oxidation, so establish a regular cleaning routine to avoid heavy tarnish build-up.
Sterling Silver Jewellery, should be cleaned using a high quality silver cloth, Do not use a
'silver dip' product or any heavy scouring agent. You may get a bright polish effect to begin
with but these will damage the silver and depending on the design and finish of your jewellery,
may actually remove the finish!
Black Silver Sulfide - Sterling Silver Tarnish:
Silver itself, is mostly resistant to corrosion, water and oxygen will not cause a reaction at normal temperatures and pressures. But silver will tarnish in air as it reacts with atmospheric traces of hydrogen sulfide. The tarnish substance itself is called 'Black Silver Sulfide', most high quality silver cloths act by removing this sulfur element, whilst leaving the silver surface undamaged.
Tarnishing also occurs as a result of the other metals in the sterling silver alloy. Copper does react with oxygen and this is why sterling silver sometimes develops a 'coppery' hue corrosion.
Salt will corrode Sterling Silver. Avoid wearing your silver jewellery in the sea and when doing tasks that include exposure to household chemicals.
Clean sweat from your jewellery, as the salt it contains will build up and can react with sterling silver.
Remove silver jewellery before swimming - chlorine is not kind to silver!
Exposure to sunlight will increase the rate at which tarnishing occurs, so it's always a good idea to clean silver jewellery after sun exposure.
It is also advisable to avoid storing you jewellery in areas of variable temperature or constant bright light.
Wearing your silver jewellery regularly will slow tarnishing. As a soft precious metal Sterling Silver will scratch easily. It's important to always store your silver jewellery away from other hard items.
Avoid jumbled jewellery boxes crammed full of different items. The best place to store your Jewellery is in the Jewellery box that it came in.
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