Silver Information

What is the difference between Sterling Silver and Silvertone?

STERLING SILVER is 92.5% pure silver. As 100% pure silver is too soft, the other 7.5% alloy is often composed of copper or zinc. For this reason Sterling silver is often hallmarked with ₉₂₅.

SILVER TONE is a reference to the colour silver, not the pure silver metal. It is used to describe jewellery made from a metal alloy and is divided into three main tones, Bright Silver, Mid Silver, Dark Silver.

• Bright silver, as its name implies, is used to describe the bright shiny colour of silver.
• Mid silver, is used to convey a more 'subtle' tone of silver, closer to nickle coloured silver.

Silvertone is more cost effective, thus is less expensive than Sterling Silver. There are many people that prefer the mid-Silver look, as it doesn't show tarnish as easily as Sterling Silver. As to which one to buy – it all comes down to personal preference.

Please note, all our earhooks are either "Full Sterling Silver" or "Surgical Steel" as a large percentage of the population is sensitive to nickel. This is clearly stated in the description of each jewellery item.