Sterling Silver Jewelry

Posted by Maire Loughran Sep 27, 2006

If you have purchased a piece of jewelry that has been stamped with 'ster', 'sterling' or '.925' this is an indication that the jewelry is at least 925/1,000ths pure silver. In other words - sterling silver.

Unless this strict criteria is met it is considered a deceptive practice by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to use even the term silver to describe the jewelry.

Any silver colored jewelry is more properly referred to as being made from 'base' metal. Examples of base metals are copper and steel.

Check out my article on Winter's Color Forecast to see what colors look good with sterling silver.