Silver Jewellery

Sterling silver jewellery prices are based on weight of the finished product and time spent to make it. White metal jewellery pricing is based on the same formula, however it takes less time to get to you, as when jewellery is described as "white metal" it means it has not been hallmarked. (see below for more information on hallmarking)

If you would like to purchase some silver/white metal jewellery I have made before here.

I am also able to work with gold (please see a custom gold order I made here), however the price for this will be much higher, as the material costs are a lot more than silver.

 

Sterling silver is considered one of the most popular silver types to craft jewellery. Sterling silver is 92.5% silver (hence the 925 stamp for hallmarking - see below, although if you want to be specific, there is actually 92.7% silver in sterling) and 7.5% copper or other metals.

Silver is a soft metal which is malleable and easily damaged when in it's purest form. Because sterling silver has 7.5% copper, this improves its strength without effecting the colour and shine pure silver has.

Hallmarking

Sometimes you may see what appears to be silver jewellery described as white metal jewellery. The difference between sterling silver and white metal is that white metal jewellery does not have any hallmarking on it.
The advantage to buying jewellery described as white metal is that if it is a custom order it will take less time, and also may possibly be slightly cheaper. However most places say check that your jewellery is hallmarked, to be sure of it's authenticity. To have silver jewellery hallmarked it is estimated that it will take an extra 6 weeks to get to you.

A hallmark consists of three compulsory marks:

1) The sponsors mark (or the makers mark) – this is simply two or three letters or numbers which relates to the person or manufacturer who created the jewellery.
2) Standard mark. This shows you the purity of the precious metal. Sterling silver will have 925 marked on it.
3) The Assay office mark. This will show where the jewellery was tested and marked.
In the UK there are four assay offices -

Birmingham    London       Edinburgh      Sheffield

Becki's Bits and Bobs is registered with the London Assay Office.

Up until 1998 there was a fourth compulsory mark which was a letter to represent the date the jewellery was created.

If you would like a quote for either a custom sterling silver / white metal jewellery piece, or one of the items featured on this page (all of which were made by me) then please email me with your specifications.