Metals Guide

Plated metals:

plated items are made from a thin coating of pure silver, copper or brass over other metals.  It is the most economical of all the metals used in jewelry. It can retain its brightness easier and doesn’t tarnish as quickly as sterling silver and silver filled because it generally doesn’t contain the copper metal.

 

Silver filled:

Silver filled consists of a layer of durable sterling silver bonded to a copper-alloy or brass-alloy center. It is hundreds of times thicker and more durable than silver plated.

 

Sterling silver:

Sterling silver is 92.5 percent pure silver and 7.5 percent copper.  This combination gives it more strength as pure silver is quite soft.  Because of the added copper, sterling has a tendancy to oxidize over time.  This can be remedied easily with a silver cloth.

 

Fine silver:

Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is marked with a .999 stamp. Fine silver only has 1/10th of one percent of another metal combined with it to add strength. It is softer than sterling silver and therefore, not as widely used.

 

Solid bronze:

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (such as aluminium, manganese, or zinc)

 

all new metals used in lydeen jewelry are nickel and lead free.