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What 925 Sterling Silver Really Means

Sterling silver is one of the most misunderstood materials in Indian jewellery. A great deal of what is sold as silver contains no silver at all, and the stamp inside a band means different things depending on who put it there. This is a plain account of what 925 is, how to tell it apart from the things it gets confused with, and what to expect from it over years of wear. What 925 actually means 925 is a purity figure. It means the metal is 92.5 per cent silver by weight, with the remaining 7.5 per cent made up of other metals, most often copper. The obvious question is why anyone would add anything at all. The answer is that pure silver, at 99.9 per cent, is too soft to build jewellery from. A pure silver ring goes out of round in a trouser pocket. A pure silver kada flattens under the weight of an ordinary day. Prongs holding a stone would open on their own. The 7.5 per cent alloy fixes that. It gives sterling enough hardness to hold a shape, enough spring to take a knock, and enough structure to keep a polish and grip a setting. 925 is the international benchmark for sterling, used in Italy, Thailand, the United States and India alike, which is why it appears on jewellery from all of them. Sterling, plated, German silver and "silver-toned" Four very different things share a shelf in most Indian markets. 925 sterling silver is silver throughout. Cut it in half and the inside looks like the outside. It can be resized, repaired, re-polished and re-finished, because there is real metal to work with. Silver-plated is a base metal, usually brass, with a very thin layer of silver deposited on top. The layer wears through at the points that rub: the underside of a ring, the edge of a kada, the back of a pendant. Once it is through, the brass shows. German silver, also sold as nickel silver or alpaca, contains no silver at all. It is copper, nickel and zinc. It is a legitimate material, but the name misleads, and its nickel content is the single most common cause of skin reactions. "Silver-toned" or "silver finish" fashion jewellery is a colour description, not a material one. It tells you what the piece looks like and nothing about what it is made of. How to tell them apart before you buy Weight. Sterling is dense. Pick up a plated piece and a sterling piece of the same size and the difference is immediate. Brass and light alloys feel hollow for their volume. The stamp. Look for 925 stamped into the metal, usually inside a band or on the tag of a chain. No stamp anywhere is a red flag. Price. Silver has a daily market rate. A "sterling" chain priced far below the metal value of its own weight is not sterling. Wear points. On a used plated piece, look at the underside of the shank or the edges. Yellow or pink metal showing through settles the question. Magnets. Sterling is not magnetic. A piece that jumps to a fridge magnet has a steel or iron core. A 925 stamp is not a BIS hallmark This is where most Indian buyers are misled, often by sellers who are confused themselves. A 925 stamp is a maker's mark of purity. The house that produced the piece stamps it to declare the metal is sterling. It is a statement of the standard the piece was made to, backed by the maker's own name. A BIS hallmark is something else entirely. It is issued under the Bureau of Indian Standards scheme, applied at a licensed assaying and hallmarking centre, and it carries the BIS mark along with the centre's identification. It is a third-party certification, not a maker's declaration. The two are not interchangeable and the words should not be used as synonyms. When a listing says "925 hallmarked" or "925 certified", it is worth asking what is actually meant. In most cases it means a house stamp, described loosely. Ruaab pieces carry a 925 house stamp, and we describe them that way because that is what they are. Why sterling suits sensitive skin Most jewellery reactions in India are not silver allergies. They are nickel reactions. Nickel is the most common contact allergen there is, and it turns up in German silver, in cheap plating, and in low-grade alloys sold loosely as silver. Sterling's alloy is copper, not nickel. For the large majority of people, including those who cannot wear costume jewellery for more than an hour, sterling is comfortable for all-day wear. The exception is worth naming honestly: a small number of people react to copper, and a very small number react to silver itself. If your skin has objected to every metal you have tried, sterling is a strong bet but not a guarantee. Tarnish: what causes it, and why it is not damage Tarnish is a chemical reaction, not decay. Silver reacts with sulphur compounds in the air to form silver sulphide, a dark film on the surface. The metal underneath is untouched. What speeds it up: Sulphur in the air, from traffic and industry, and closer to home from rubber bands, wool and some cardboard and paper. Sweat, which is mildly acidic and carries salts. Perfume, deodorant, hairspray and lotion sprayed onto or over a piece. Humidity. Coastal and monsoon air tarnishes silver faster than dry inland air, which is why silver behaves differently in Mumbai than it does in Bikaner. Chlorinated water in swimming pools. The useful part is that tarnish is reversible. A soft polishing cloth takes early tarnish off in a minute. Heavier tarnish needs a proper silver clean. Nothing is lost, because nothing was consumed. Full instructions are on our care page. Worth knowing: silver worn regularly tarnishes less than silver left in a drawer. Skin contact and gentle friction keep the surface bright. Storing a piece sealed, with the air excluded, does the same. What a rhodium finish does Rhodium is a platinum-group metal. Applied as a thin layer over sterling, it does three things: it adds a hard surface that resists scratching, it gives a brighter white than silver's natural warm grey, and it puts a barrier between the silver and the air, which slows tarnish considerably. Now the honest part. Rhodium is a finish, and every finish wears. How long it lasts depends on where the piece sits and how you live. A pendant that hangs clear of everything can hold its finish for years. A ring on a working hand, or the underside of a kada that meets a desk edge and a steering wheel every day, will thin at the contact points sooner. That is normal, it is not a fault, and it is why rhodium-finished pieces can be re-finished rather than replaced. Anyone who tells you a silver piece is permanently anti-tarnish is overstating it. What is true is that a rhodium finish resists tarnish, and that the resistance is a layer that gets used up. How we work Ruaab is a 925 sterling silver house in Bikaner, Rajasthan, run by Shiv Shakti Jewellers. Every piece is sterling throughout, stamped 925, and finished to be worn rather than stored. Weight, worn with intent. If you are starting out, rings and pendants are the easiest entry, and the FAQ covers sizing, shipping and exchange. Shipping is free across India, dispatch takes 24 to 48 hours and delivery 3 to 7 working days. Exchanges run for 15 days; damaged, defective or wrong items are replaced free.