Good Afternoon E-Bayers! This Guide is called All About Sterling Silver and Its Care. 

Sterling Silver Gemstone Jewelry is very popular today and you can find it everywhere you look. This guides purpose is to give you background information on Silver and help you take care of your sterling silver gemstone jewelry so you can can have it for years to come.  I used to work in a jewelry store and learned a lot while I was there.  I will be writing other guides I hope soon covering gemstones, diamonds, and other items I sell under izzywizzy1324.  I hope you enjoy!

The History of Silver

Silver was one of the first metals used by people.  The art of silver working dates all the way back to ancient Byzantine, Phoenician and Egyptian empires, where silver was forged into domestic utensils, jewelry, buttons, weapons, horse trappings, boxes, and other articles.  Silver's high utility, silver can be and was often times melted down and made into different items.  Because of that much of ancient and early European silverwork has been lost forever.  The mines of Peru and Mexico are still the highest-producing ones in the world, and the methods of silver jewelry making by natives is relatively mostly unchanged today.  Silver's value as a jewelry and utensil metal made it an early target for ambitious miners, and the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859 created a silver rush that rivaled the Gold Rush.

Breakdown of Silver

Silver is the brightest reflector of any metal(except for liquid mercury).  Jewelry and silverware is made of Sterling Silver(standard silver)an alloy of 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper due to silvers malleability and softness, not as much as Gold but just about.   Britannia Silver is an alternative hallmark-quality standard containing 95.8% silver, often used to make silver tableware and wrought plate. Silver is used in medals, denoting second place. Some high end musical instruments are made from sterling silver, such as the flute.

Alloys

Fine Silver in its natural state, 999/1000 pure, is too soft an element for practical jewelry. To make it workable, an alloy such as copper is added. Here are the main silver alloys:
Sterling Silver: A mixture of 92.5 % pure silver (925 parts) and 7.5 % metal alloy.
Silver Plating: (Also known as silver plated or silver coated) A base metal, usually nickel silver or brass, is coated with a layer of pure silver by a process called electroplating.
Vermeil: Sterling silver electroplated with at least 100 millionths of an inch of karat gold
German Silver or Nickel Silver: A silver-white alloy consisting of copper, zinc and nickel.Coin Silver: 90% (900 parts) pure silver and 10% (100 parts) metal alloy. A process of melting down coins done in the 19th century, and mostly discarded today.

How to Clean your Gemstone Sterling Silver Jewelry

• Store your silver in a cool, dry place that is preferably airtight, to avoid oxidation. Avoid direct overexposure to artificial light or sunlight for long periods. Don't store directly on wood, which often contains acids that can affect silver's surface.
• Store items in a tarnish-proof cloth, or in drawers with tarnish-resistant strips. Store each item individually, either in its own soft pouch or in a separate compartment of your jewelry box. Do not store silver loose in drawers; scratches will occur if you toss your jewelry into a compartment or allow pieces to rub against each other.
• If a piece of silver jewelry becomes tarnished, use a paste, liquid polish or a treated polishing cloth to restore its original luster. Never put rubber bands or plastic directly against the surface of your silver
• Cleaning dips should ONLY be used a last resort.
• Do NOT dip pieces with stones, it may cause damage to the stones.
• Some people may cause silver in contact with their skin, to turn black, which may be difficult to clean.
• Minimize exposure of silver to perfumes, hair sprays or household cleaners,  Avoid wearing silver in pools, hot tubs, or the ocean.
  

Thank you for reading my guide and I hope you find it useful!  Please stop by my auctions sometimes and say "hi".
Rebecca