Learn about Silver Engagement Rings
- The least expensive precious metal.
- A beautiful blue white colour.
- More prone to corrosion and wear than other precious metals.
- View our gallery of silver engagement rings
General Information on Silver
Mined by pre-historic man, silver is a lovely blue/white colour and a relatively inexpensive choice for an engagement ring. At Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design we work in Sterling silver which is 925 parts in a 1000 - in other words at least 92.5% pure silver - most imported silver (from places such as India) is far more impure than this and so very brittle. Many of the allergic reations to silver jewellery can be put down to poor quality silver alloys imported from the far east.
Silver is more prone to corrosion than gold, for example it will react with sea water, so is not really ideal for setting valuable stones. It also is softer than the alloys used for gold and certainly platinum so set stones may not be as well supported as they could otherwise be.
Silver an element with the symbol Ag and atomic number 47. It is therefore less heavy than gold or platinum that have atomic numbers 79 and 78 respectively. The word silver comes from the ancient Greek word meaning 'white' or 'shining' and so it is not a surprise to learn that silver has been around for thousands of years as a material used in jewellery, coinage and more recently tablewear.
Silver has many other uses than jewellery - its high electrical conductivity means it is used in electical systems and when in a compound with nitrate is the principle ingredient of the photographic process.
Silver is mined all over the world and Peru is the country that is reputed to have the greatest amount of it available.
Silver is not an ideal choice for your engagement ring because of its lack of strengh in holding your diamond or gemstone in place. Having said that we can combine silver with other metals to give the setting part of the design more strength. The example engagement ring shown above is an example of this.
Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to arrange a design consultation.
Related blog articles
- Harriet's blog article: White Precious Metal.
- Harriet's blog on How to choose a white metal for your engagement ring.