Let's Talk about Silver
Let’s talk about silver. We all know the color of silver, but what really matters is the content. While 99.99 percent silver metal is the shiniest and purest, also known as “fine silver,” it is not used in jewelry making. Fine silver is too soft to mold, and therefore not ideal in creating durable, intricate jewelry. So what do we use? While the industry standard for jewelry making is something called 925 Silver, not all 925 jewelry is created equally.
925 silver refers to the silver content of the metal. Meaning, it is 92.5 percent silver, and the other 7.5 percent is copper. This allows the metal to have more strength, which enables us to mold the silver into all the beautiful pieces you see. This all seems great! However, I have discovered that the place of origin of where the silver comes from is very important. Some sources will add a mix of other metals, sometimes even toxic metals instead of using pure copper. This really concerned me. I wanted Anapa Jewelry to have the best quality 925 sterling silver possible.
While researching, I found that not all silver that meets the eye is worthy. If you come across jewelry being sold as just “silver” you may want to ask the origins and content. Simply using the term “silver” is a loophole for sellers to make you believe you are getting high quality metal, when in fact, it may be a mix of different metals, in a “silver” color. Another one to be aware of is “Silver Filled.” Silver filled jewelry is not an alloy, and only consists of 5 to 10 percent silver coated at the top of the piece. I discovered so many of these loopholes, nickel silver, tribal silver, silver plated.
I knew I wanted Anapa customers to have the very best. Best design, experience and quality. So where would I source our silver? Turns out, the best quality sterling silver largely comes from Italy! This is because Italy has been known for centuries for being a silver producer. So much so that the government regulates the quality. You’ll even see the “925 Italy” stamp on our necklace chains. We have more exciting pieces coming to you, using the very best quality silver. We believe quality jewelry should be affordable and accessible to everyone, and we’ll continue to do our best to bring you just that.