Handmade silver jewellery comes in many types, styles and shapes. Pure silver is normally not used in making jewellery items because it is too soft and malleable. Jewellery makers and designers add other metals like copper to make it harder and easier to handle. This gives rise to different alloys of silver used in the making of earrings, rings, bracelets and other items.

Sterling silver is the most common silver alloy used in making jewellery and silverware. This material is 92.5% pure silver and the remaining amount is filled out by some other metals. Silver in its pure form reflects light brilliantly and is therefore used for making mirrors. Pure silver has a white metallic luster.

When buying handmade jewellery you need to be extra careful as some jewelers also sell silver-plated jewellery. This type of jewellery is not considered as solid silver
and thereore has to be avoided. Even if you do want to buy it, make sure you don’t pay more than it is worth. Silver-plated jewellery looks very much like sterling silver but in reality it loses its shine very quickly and becomes faded and worn out in a matter of days.

There are other types of silver as well including Britannia silver, Mexican silver and German silver. All these types contain some percentage of pure silver. As such they are mixtures of silver with many other metals. Alpaca silver which is also known as German silver contains very little amount of pure silver and is therefore considered as artificial.

Antique silver jewellery is becoming increasingly popular nowadays. These items are prepared by using sterling silver which has gone through a special finishing process. This type of jewellery is a bit more expensive because it uses sterling silver but is highly appreciated all over the world.