Buyer Beware!
Before you buy a silver necklace or ring, you had better make sure it is 100% (or at least 99%) authentic silver. Nobody wants to spend money on expensive jewellery only to find out in the end that it is fake jewellery. That would be equivalent to being tricked by the silversmith. Nowadays, unfortunately, we have several con artists and scam fiends who will loot you of your hard-earned money at the drop of a hat. So care is essential.
Magnetic Measure
There are several ways in which you can test silver jewellery to see whether it is the real and right stuff or an ersatz version that is best avoided at all costs. You must do the following to establish a proper criterion for silver jewellery purity. Take a magnet made of rare material and gather your silver jewellery. A magnet doesn’t usually stick to silver.
A True Test
First, hold the magnet close to some paper clips and iron nails to make sure it is a proper magnet, to begin with. If it readily attracts these odds and ends, well and good. Now bring the magnet into proximity to the silver jewellery or bar. Let it slide to see whether there is an attraction or not. If it slides away with relative speed, rest assured that it is solid silver worth its weight in the world’s precious metal venues. However, if the silver tends to lag a lot and stick to the magnet partially, well then it is not silver but an amalgam or alloy. It either has iron or some other metal added to it.
Tactics of the Trade
Remember that there are ways that the con men jewellers of today can hoodwink you despite all of your best intentions. They have cards up their sleeves you never even knew about. Sometimes the con artists would add a little bit of stainless steel to the silver. Since stainless steel is not attracted to a magnet, you might suppose that this silver is authentic. The point is that it is not. So to remain on the safe side, there are a couple of other tests that may help you determine once and for all whether the silver you are buying is the real deal or a carbon copy version. A con artist who was operating a silver jewellery shop a few meters from Carports Newcastle was outed for having sold fake silver to thousands of customers claiming it was real silver.
Other Ordeals
Place an ice cube on the silver. If it melts real quick, that means that it is indeed silver. Silver has a high degree of thermal conductivity, so it quickly absorbs the ice cube’s heat, thereby melting it readily. Then you can also drop the silver a couple of inches from a metallic surface. If it makes a ringing sound, it is genuine silver. One last thing you can do is to pour a single drop of bleach on the silver. If it darkens, then it is silver. Use gloves on your hands for this since bleach is very corrosive. Finally, if you still have misgivings, use a silver testing toolkit you can find in the marketplace.