SILVER Silver is a fine, silver-white metal often used in jewelry. Pure silver has a hardness of 2.5. Other metals are alloyed with silver (usually copper) for silver used in jewelry making. Silver tarnishes after exposure to air (a thin layer of silver-oxide forms on the surface). Silver often occurs near copper lodes.
SILVER 800
Silver 800 is silver with a fineness of 800, that is, it contains 800 parts per thousand (or 80 percent) silver and 200 parts per thousand (or 20 percent) copper. Silver 800 is used for casting.
STERLING SILVER
Sterling is silver with a fineness of 925, that is, sterling is 925 parts per thousand (or 92.5%) silver and 75 parts per thousand (or 7.5%) copper (the copper increases the silver's hardness). Sterling is quite malleable. The pin pictured above is a rhinestone-studded sterling bow made by Trifari.
STERLING SILVER