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.
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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.
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