What is Sterling Silver?

On the Ellis Finch website, you will see many of our beautiful jewellery pieces referencing Sterling Silver. So what exactly is it and why is it so popular for manufacturing jewellery?

Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925.

Why don't we use pure silver?

Pure silver is very soft and difficult to shape into the beautiful creations that our jewelers make, it also makes it hard to use for items that require daily use.

This softness also means that fine silver items aren't as durable. They can be easily bent, made misshapen, or damaged, which is why fine silver is mostly reserved to make fine jewellery that wouldn't be used on a daily basis.