STERLING SILVER

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STERLING SILVER by Jon Ber

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English word meaning pure is commonly misused STERLING ISN’T STERLING   100% silver is too soft for the creation of jewelry & silverware. Thus the international industry standards is 92.5 percent silver with 7.5 % balance added copper. Sterling, also the official name the English currency, or the English Pound, is accepted as the definition for the "best" silver there is.  The practice of diluting silver was common just about everywhere in the world for thousands of years. The formula is now benign tested on occasion by the authorities in the countries that export silver made product as not to hurt their reputation. and avoid scandals, of the sort that hit Bangkok, Thailand, just as its silver jewelry exports flourished in the early 1990s.  
One of the better known local manufacture wad accused of shaving few extra silver percentages from his "Sterling" mix. By that time thousands of small time traders like myself, were coming over to buy silver made products merchandise in the Kingdom of Siam.   At that time, scrupulous silver dealers in Jaipur India, were using even worse practices to compete in the a cut throat industry: The replacement of Copper with the cheaper Zinc. It turned silver to yellow permanently.  In some European countries, such as Austria, all imported silver jewelry is checked by customs laboratory. In Switzerland, importers must mark their own stamp on every silver jewelry item. 
 Coming soon: Here soon: My silver test in India. Swiss German became my favorite accent to imitate. Especially the one dialect from Schaffhausen .  Jon Ber is the publisher of jonber.com, a former investigative journalist and a traveler of seventy countries living in North Carolina USA .