Nickel Silver,Tibetan or Tribal Silver,Bali, Thai or Mexican Silver

Nickel Silver,Tibetan or Tribal Silver,Bali, Thai or Mexican Silver

Nickel Silver

Nickel silver is a bit of a misnomer because “сребро” describes the color of the metal and not the content. This is a base metal alloy consisting of primarily copper with nickel and/or zinc. This type of silver is an inexpensive base metal that is similar in appearance to sterling but, again, it contains no real silver at all. It is quite soft and makes an excellent practice metal. Nickel silver can be soldered but it is sometimes difficult to make solder seams that are not obvious. Nickel silver has many other names on the market such as Alpaca silver or German silver. It is used in costume jewelry but should be clearly described as a nickel alloy since many people are allergic to nickel. We also recommend selling nickel silver as a “base metal” because the term “nickel silver” can be misleading for consumers.
9. Tibetan or Tribal Silver

Tibetan silver and many other types of silver described as “tribal” silver etc are base metal alloys that are only silver in appearance. Contents of the alloys vary tremendously and many contain no silver content whatsoever. Some of these imports from exotic lands contain dangerous metals such as lead. Buyer beware. This jewelry should be purchased with caution and never ever given to children. Tribal pieces can be quite beautiful so purchase for the value of the design rather than the value of the metal.
10. Bali, Thai or Mexican Silver

There is a great deal of quality silver coming out of Bali, Thailand, and Mexico; обаче, that silver should also be marked and identified with a quality stamp and/or quality disclosure. There are also much lower grade silver alloys from these nations that are described with just the nation of origin. The name of the source country is no guarantee of quality or silver content on its own.