About Jewelry Metals

Silver:

Sterling silver, also called .925 silver, is the standard for high-quality silver jewelry. Sterling is an alloy that is 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, primarily copper, which are added to the silver to improve its working characteristics and durability. All of the silver jewelry created by J.D. Hallowell is made with sterling silver.

"Pure" silver, or "fine" silver, as it is also known, is far too soft for use in most jewelry applications. While it is much easier to work than sterling, and does not tarnish, fine silver bends, dents and deforms in use, and so it is a poor choice for wire wrapping, and its use in other styles of jewelry is usually confined to bezels or other areas of a piece that receive little stress, with the main structural support being provided by sterling silver. 

"Mexican silver" and "coin silver" are other alloys of silver which contain more copper than sterling silver, and therefore tarnish more easily, and are more likely to cause "jewelry rash" in people who are sensitive to copper.

 "Nickel silver" and "German silver" are trade names for nickel, a silvery-colored base metal which contains no actual silver at all.  

Gold: Gold is designated by its karat measure (not to be confused with 'carat', a unit of gemstone weight). Pure gold is 24 karat, or 24k. 18 k gold is 18/24ths gold, 14 k gold is 14/24ths gold. and so forth, with the balance being the weight of the alloy metals added.  Gold with a karat value greater than 18k is generally too soft for use in jewelry. The different colors of gold, such as white gold, rose gold, yellow gold (most common) and even green gold are the result of the particular alloy metals, such as copper or zinc, used. Custom wrapped 14k gold jewelry is available here by special order.

Gold-filled is made by bonding a thick layer of karat gold to a base metal using heat and pressure. In wire stock, this results in a tube of solid karat gold filled with base metal, hence the name "gold-filled". Gold filled is designated by the karat measure of the gold layer followed by the proportion of the gold layer to the entire piece. For example, 12/20 gold-filled has a layer of 12 k gold that is 1/20th (or 5%) of the total thickness of the metal. 14/20 gold filled has a layer of 14k gold that is 1/20th of the total thickness of the metal. Gold filled is very durable, and has the look and feel of solid karat gold at a fraction of the cost. All of the gold-filled jewelry created by J.D. Hallowell is 14/20 gold filled.

Gold plate is a micro-thin layer of karat gold electrically deposited on a base metal. The gold layer for gold plate is generally about one millionth (1/1,000,000) of an inch thick. Gold plate does not wear well and is an inferior product. None of the jewelry on this site is gold plate.