| Sterling silver jewelry has been a popular | | | | rather quickly. Therefore, silver jewelry is |
| commodity for thousands of years. One of the | | | | usually plated with another metal to protect |
| obvious reasons is the affordability over | | | | it from tarnishing. There are two kinds of |
| other precious metals gold and platinum. The | | | | plating for silver jewelry: nickel and |
| large variety of sterling silver jewelry | | | | rhodium plating. Nickel plating has a more |
| requires certain knowledge in order to choose | | | | whitish look and rhodium plating has a darker |
| the right piece and also keep it in good | | | | look. Rhodium is used to plate white gold |
| condition as long as possible. The | | | | and platinum jewelry and is much more |
| followings are the most common questions | | | | expensive than nickel, and it give better |
| concerning sterling silver jewelry. | | | | protection to the silver underneath. On the |
| | | | other hand, some silver jewelry is not |
| How do I clean sterling silver jewelry? It | | | | plated. For instance, high polished sterling |
| depends. Usually, it is sufficient to use a | | | | silver jewelry does not have any plating and |
| jewelry cloth (with two layers of cloths in | | | | the surface is polished by machine to render |
| different colors) that you can get from a | | | | shininess. Also, "oxidized silver" jewelry |
| jewelry accessory store. Don't use any hard | | | | is oxidized on purpose to give a dark antique |
| object to clean sterling silver jewelry; even | | | | look and is not plated with any other metals. |
| paper towel could scratch the surface. You | | | | |
| should rub any dirt off using a jewelry | | | | How do I know the purity of my silver |
| cloth, not fingernails. Silver-dip is | | | | jewelry? The purity of sterling silver |
| another commonly used sterling silver jewelry | | | | refers to 92.5% of silver in the alloy. In |
| cleaner, which can also be obtained from | | | | order to confirm the purity, the metal itself |
| jewelry store. The entire silver jewelry is | | | | has to be sent to a laboratory to be tested. |
| immerged in the solution for half a minute to | | | | However, most of the sterling silver jewelry |
| a minute and then rinsed with water. Make | | | | produced nowadays has a "925" stamp to |
| sure the silver jewelry is not plated with | | | | indicate the authenticity of the jewelry. |
| any other metal before using the silver-dip | | | | Although there are cases where stamps are |
| or the plating will be damaged. | | | | forged and the metal is either not silver or |
| | | | the purity is not as stated, they are very |
| Where do I store sterling silver jewelry? | | | | rare. |
| It is very important to store sterling silver | | | | |
| jewelry properly when it is not used. The | | | | How about engraving and resizing? Engraving |
| ideal place to store sterling silver jewelry | | | | and resizing of sterling silver rings is |
| is cool and away from sunlight. Heat and | | | | rather simple due to the ductility and |
| light will turn a silver jewelry yellow and | | | | relatively low melting point. However, make |
| cause it to tarnish quickly. Even indoor | | | | sure your jeweler understands the process of |
| light source like florescent lights or light | | | | refinishing the ring and that they possess |
| bulbs turn the color of silver jewelry over | | | | the necessary equipment to do so. Not all |
| time. If you expect not to wear a certain | | | | jewelers have the equipment to recoat the |
| piece for a long time, put it in a air-tight | | | | rhodium plating after cutting and welding the |
| bag and store it in a drawer. | | | | ring. Also, rings set with stones are |
| | | | sometimes not resizable because resizing |
| What types of silver jewelry plating are | | | | might cause the stones to pop out. Such |
| there? Unlike gold and platinum, however, | | | | settings include channel and invisible |
| pure silver is rather unstable and oxides | | | | settings. |