How to Tell if Sterling Silver is Real? The Jewelry Makers Dilemma.

A few years ago, sterling silver rose in cost to the point that many of the smaller sized jewelry designers could no longer offer it in their designs. I can remember when some of my sterling silver parts cost me $7.00 and now they are over $28.00! Jewelry designers started looking everywhere for affordable sterling silver findings.

Many (myself included) looked to online auction sites for sources. I purchased what I thought was a bargain lot of "sterling silver" fishhook earwires. When they arrived, I saw that they were marked 925, but the mark looked like there was plating on top of it. I'd seen enough real sterling to know that was odd, so I cut one of the wires in half. The center was copper. They were silver plated findings that were marked 925 and were being sold as sterling silver!

Trying to get your money refunded from sellers who are knowingly selling fakes is a pain in the rear.  Plus, I figure there are thousands of people buying these findings and jewelry pieces and using them in their designs. They figure it says 925 on it so it must be real.....

Here's some tips for buying sterling silver

1.  Beware of auction sellers with prices that are too good to be true!  Check their feedback.  Quite often you will see complaints.  Keep in mind that many of these sellers are running thousands of auctions.  The number of people who can tell the difference between the real and the fake (or those who take the time to test it) will be a small percentage of their total sales.  A good feedback percentage does not mean its real!

2.  Stick to reputable wholesale dealers.  Yes, you will pay more, but they aren't going to sell you fake sterling.  Its worth the peace of mind.  Many wholesalers have tiered discounts so see if other designers will go in on a large order with you to get the best discount.

3. Avoid the Name Games! After all these years, I think this is probably the most important thing to pay attention to. Be cautious of sellers who specifically avoid calling a piece sterling or sterling silver and just include some variation of "silver" in the descriptions. I also prefer sellers who address the fineness in some other way such as 800 silver, coin silver, silver of unknown content, untested silver etc. If something is labelled with 925 and just a series of letters (for example something like SP might not be a makers mark and they could try and say it means silver plate later), you want to see the fineness specifically spelled out somewhere. Sellers will sometimes make their descriptions ambiguous on purpose and count on you just assuming something is solid sterling. They can also say when they described something as "silver", they were just referring to the color. They technically aren't breaking any rules so that can make it difficult if you are requesting a refund.

4.  When in doubt ask questions before hand or test it upon receipt!  There are a few simple tests that can help you weed out most counterfeits. 

Easy Tests For Sterling Silver and Things to Look For

1.  The Smell test- I know this sounds weird, but many times you can smell the difference between silver plated items and solid sterling ones.  This works best on big pieces.  If you rub the metal and it smells metallic, brassy or even what I would call "dirty metallic", its probably not sterling.  Clean sterling silver should not have a smell.  I sure get strange looks from people in stores when I'm rubbing and smelling things.

2.  Stamping and Jewelry marks- Look for marks pressed directly onto the surface of the metal.  The mark should not be covered with any plating which makes it less clear or "muddy" looking.  Current marks in the USA for sterling silver are 925 and STERLING.  There are other grades of silver, but I'll discuss that another time.

3.  Alpaca and German silver are NOT sterling silver-  If you see someone selling something stamped ALPACA or ALPACA Mexico as sterling, its not.  Same thing for anything described as German Silver.  These are a mix of alloys that are silver colored and they resemble sterling with patina. 

4.  Jewelry or findings marked 925 FAS-  OK this is a confusing one because there is little or no information as to what FAS means. Items marked with this are sold as sterling, but if you ask, the seller may be from China or it is sourced from China and they say its "Fused Alloy Silver".  What the heck is that?  What I do know is that the few pieces of "sterling" that I received that showed up marked 925 FAS, do not pass the next two tests for sterling silver. The magnetic and acid tests. So don't risk it! Test any sterling jewelry marked FAS, even those labelled as being from Thailand or Italy, to tell them apart from designs imported by FMC which also uses a FAS mark.

5.  Tibetan silver - This is a product that I am seeing more of recently, especially on auction sites. Tibetan silver is not the same as Thai or Thailand Silver but they are often confused with each other. Thai or Thailand silver is usually sterling or better (but some could be as low as 800 fineness) that's made in Thailand and it will be marked as such. Tibetan silver is an alloy that contains 30% silver or less. The rest of the metal is copper, a copper-nickle alloy or zinc.