How to understand jewelry or silver?
The popularity of silver jewelry is growing every day. Absolutely everyone can afford beautiful, durable and inexpensive products. In addition, it is known that silver has hypoallergenic and bactericidal properties. The demand for silver jewelry has led to the appearance on the market of a lot of jewelry made from low-grade alloys. It is quite difficult for an ordinary person to distinguish it from silver ones with the naked eye. We’ll talk about what to look for when buying silver jewelry below.
What is silver
Silver is a chemical element and metal with a silvery-white color. Its atomic number in the periodic table is 47, and its name in Latin is argentum (white). Silver is considered a noble metal because it does not corrode. In nature, silver exists both in free form and as part of other rocks. By its structure, silver is a soft, ductile, wear-resistant metal. It has high electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. Silver is in demand in many areas – rocket and shipbuilding, electrical, electronics, photo and film production, medicine and jewelry. Scientists were unable to establish the exact date of the discovery of silver. The first mentions of this metal appeared among the Egyptians, who made dishes and jewelry from it. There was a time when silver was more expensive than gold. Today the main producer of silver is Mexico. It is also mined in Canada, Australia, Peru and the USA.
How to distinguish silver from jewelry
Of course, when buying silver jewelry from a trusted store, it is virtually impossible to encounter a fake. However, very often we bring silver from our travels or buy something we like at a flea market. In such conditions, it is very difficult to distinguish noble metal from ordinary jewelry. Therefore, the first thing you should do is ask about the price of the product. The very low cost should alert you. After this, the jewelry or other silver item must be carefully examined. The presence of unevenness, defects and chips will indicate handicraft production and low-quality metal. Next, you need to find a sample on the jewelry. It is usually placed in two places. Silver fineness can be of three categories – 800, 900 or 925. This mark indicates the amount of silver in the alloy. It is known that silver is very ductile, so various impurities are added to the alloy. To make sure that the item is silver, you can lightly rub it in your hands. Real silver will not leave marks on your fingers. If a black coating appears on your hands, then most likely the product is not silver or there is very little silver in it. But what there is a lot of is zinc. It is he who leaves dark marks on the skin. You can also distinguish silver from stainless steel by smell. Natural silver does not smell, but a stainless steel product will have a subtle metallic smell. Another sign that you are holding silver and not stainless steel is the thermal conductivity of the metal. A silver item in your hands heats up quickly, but a stainless steel item remains cold for a long time. You can check the decoration with a small scratch on the top layer. If there is metal underneath that differs in color from the top layer, then the product is clearly not made of silver. A regular magnet will also help you distinguish silver from other metals. Silver items will not be magnetized to it, but base metals will be easily attracted to the magnet. If it is possible to check the decoration of your home, this can be done using iodine, vinegar, chalk and other means. So, if you drop iodine on a piece of jewelry, the silver will darken, but the jewelry will not. As for chalk, they need to rub the product. Dark marks on a piece of chalk will confirm that the item is silver. Their absence will indicate that this is jewelry. Vinegar can also help you distinguish 925 sterling silver from stainless steel. It is poured into any container and the product is placed there. If it loses color and shine, it is clearly made of stainless metal. Keeping in mind the high thermal conductivity of silver, the item can be tested using boiling water. The product is simply placed in boiling water. Instant heating will indicate that the jewelry is silver. However, this testing method is not suitable for products with natural stones. Determining the authenticity of silver for the generation of our mothers and grandmothers was a real quest of ingenuity. Jewelry, cutlery, home accessories, figurines – all this was learned to be counterfeited back in the century before last, so the purchase of silver products is still accompanied by the risk of getting a skillful counterfeit. Fortunately, there are many methods to carry out the test almost free of charge, without seeking examination in a laboratory. In this large material, we have collected for you the most effective and safe ways to distinguish silver from other metals, using cheap means at hand. 
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Checking silver for authenticity: determining the metal sample
- Prepare your work area – unnecessary waterproof oilcloth, non-enamelled metal or glassware, thick latex gloves, a respirator. Ensure that all tools will not be used for food products.
- Using a sharp needle, carefully make a small scratch no more than a couple of millimeters long on an inconspicuous area of the jewelry. If you have a touchstone at home, use it. Do not overdo it so as not to spoil the aesthetics of the product.
- Apply 1-2 drops of Chrompic to the scratch and the area around it.
- Leave everything in this position for 10 minutes; under no circumstances touch the treated area of metal with your bare hands, this will lead to severe burns.
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Once time has passed, illuminate the decoration with a table lamp or hold it up to a window to see what color the metal is painted. Compare the result from the table description:
The error of this method is about 15% due to the fact that modern counterfeits use complex alloys that can “confuse” the chemical reaction. Absolute accuracy is achieved only in laboratory conditions using equipment for spectral analysis.
Important: Potassium dichromate, known under the trade name chrompic, is an extremely toxic compound; it must only be used in a ventilated area, observing safety precautions. During the reaction with metal, it emits a caustic, inconspicuous smoke, which should not be inhaled even through a respirator, so as not to cause a burn to the mucous membrane.
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How to distinguish white gold from silver?
Unfair production also works in the opposite direction – rhodium-plated silver is often passed off as 585 white gold, taking advantage of the fact that the gullible buyer does not see any difference with the naked eye. It can be difficult to understand the differences without preparation, but there are still several tricks to prevent a cunning seller from deceiving you:
- Gold jewelry should always be hallmarked in the form of a hallmark with numbers and the logo of the Russian Assay Office. If it is not there, this is the first “symptom” of a fake.
- Pay attention to the type of inlay when present. Gold settings are used both for diamonds, sapphires and emeralds, and with semi-precious amethysts, pearls or topazes. Silver is not quoted for precious crystals.
- Professional jewelers can distinguish white gold by ear – you just need to carefully drop the jewelry onto a flat wooden surface from a small height and listen to the sound produced. In expensive metal it is ringing, like a tiny bell, while silver produces a specific dull tinkling sound.
- The test with a blank sheet of paper also works – a clearly visible silver mark is easy to “draw”. However, if the metal is ennobled with rhodium, this method does not work – the mirror coating visually looks the same.
Finally, if all arguments have been exhausted, but doubts remain, you have every right to demand a certificate of authenticity from the store, which indicates all the passport information about the jewelry, metal, type of inlay, if any, and much more.
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How to distinguish silver from other metals at home?
The most common are five analogues of silver, which, when properly looked at, look as similar as possible to the precious metal, and sometimes even surpass it in beauty.
Palladium
Here the situation is similar to white gold, with the only difference being that palladium is almost a third more expensive. This way of making money inspires “counterfeiters” from the jewelry world, and recognizing a surrogate is not easy. Craftsmen from the Internet recommend a household gas burner; the flame is unable to melt palladium, but the silver item will instantly become unusable.
A less radical method is a touchstone with a chemical cocktail. The reagent is prepared from 10% potassium iodide and aqua regia (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids). Next, the manipulation is simple – draw an inconspicuous edge along the stone and drop the reagent onto the remaining mark. Expensive metal will color the print red-brown; if it is not visible, it is silver.
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Melchior
During the Soviet years, the alloy of nickel, copper, manganese and zinc became a real scourge of thrift stores – people tried to pass off cupronickel silverware as antique silverware. The obligatory mark of the International Scientific Center on several elements of the object helped to reduce the intensity of trade fraud – it was not possible to completely polish it due to the specifics of the metal, the mark remained forever.
Cupronickel can be identified in different ways. Firstly, it is magnetic, although not very much, but the surface attracts. Secondly, the alloy is very difficult to scratch even with a sharp shoe needle, no matter how hard you try. Thirdly, the imitation will react to a pharmaceutical lapis pencil or a drop of nitric acid – with a dark gray and bright green spot, respectively.
Interesting fact: Chemical tests on silverware from the antique category sometimes show a reaction similar to cupronickel silver, but this is not entirely true. The fact is that in pre-revolutionary Russia, jewelry 925 standard was considered impractical for dishes, forks and spoons, so family sets were made from 750 standard, which is unpopular today.
Aluminum
It’s hard to believe it today, but counterfeit aluminum is still actively sold in dubious retail chains under the guise of “exclusive” silver jewelry. It is easier to recognize it than most imitations by the absence of traces of soldering – as we know from school physics courses, it is incompatible with solders, which is why the products look as if they are monolithic.
Another obvious symptom of the budget analogue is the presence of traces of glue, both between the metal elements and at the place where the inlay is attached in the frame itself. Synthetic stones are most often glued to aluminum, because fixing the insert with “claws” and other methods of precious alloys here inevitably leads to breakage.
Stainless steel
The favorite scheme for earning money from perestroika swindlers is to sell scarce stainless steel cutlery for precious 925 or, at worst, 875. Unlike cupronickel, traces of the NERZH mark were polished off almost without a trace, which made life difficult for buyers and those who wanted to buy an antique item for the collection for a decade.
However, it was not difficult to spot a fake even then – steel, at a minimum, is magnetic, which automatically alerted buyers. At home, an instant test was carried out using a white paper napkin and methyl industrial alcohol. The wetted paper reacted with the alloy and turned an unpleasant gray color.
