www.jonber.com
STERLING
SILVER
English word meaning pure is commonly misused
STERLING ISN’T
STERLING by Jon Ber
100% silver is too soft for the creation of jewelry &
silverware. Thus the international industry standards is
92.5 percent silver with 7.5 % balance added copper.
Sterling, also the official name the English
currency, or the English Pound, is accepted as the
definition for the "best" silver there is.
But the practice
of diluting silver was common just about everywhere in the
world for thousands of years. The formula is now benign
tested on occasion by the authorities in the countries that
export silver made product as not to hurt their reputation.
and avoid scandals, of the sort that hit Bangkok, Thailand,
just as its silver jewelry exports flourished in the
early 1990s.
One of the better known local manufacture wad accused of
shaving few extra silver percentages from his
"Sterling" mix. By that time thousands of small time
traders like myself, were coming over to buy silver made
products merchandise in the Kingdom of Siam.
At that time,
scrupulous silver dealers in Jaipur India, were using even
worse practices to compete in the a cut throat industry:
The replacement of Copper with the cheaper Zinc. It
turned silver to yellow permanently.
In some European
countries, such as Austria, all imported silver
jewelry is checked by customs laboratory. In
Switzerland, importers must mark their own
stamp on every silver jewelry item.
Coming soon:
Here soon: My silver test in India. Swiss German
became my favorite accent to imitate. Especially the one
dialect from Schaffhausen .
Jon Ber is the
publisher of jonber.com, a former investigative journalist
and a traveler of seventy countries living in North
Carolina USA .