Mar 2025

Sterling Silver and Regular Silver - What's the Difference?

By StoneX Bullion

To the untrained eye, sterling silver and pure silver might look the same. But these two types of silver have numerous differences when it comes to their purity, uses, and investment value.

In this article, we’ll dive deep into the differences between sterling silver and ‘real’ silver, including the pros and cons of each type of metal and how to tell them apart.

What is sterling silver?

Sterling silver is a metal alloy made up of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper or nickel. This blend adds strength that makes sterling silver pieces more durable and resistant to everyday wear and tear, while still allowing them to be shaped into jewellery, cutlery, and other decorative items.

That shiny, bright finish most of us often associate with silver is actually the appearance of sterling silver – pure silver tends to have a duller, more greyish hue in comparison.

Pros of sterling silver

Some of the benefits of sterling silver include:

Affordable: Sterling silver is more affordable than white gold or platinum, which makes it an excellent option for those wanting high-quality jewellery without the hefty price tag.
Versatile: Sterling silver jewellery is available in a range of classic and modern styles. It pairs well with gemstones, pearls, and other materials, giving endless options for customising pieces for any occasion.
Long-lasting shine: Although sterling silver can tarnish over time, it’s easy to restore its original lustre with a quick polish.

Read: Giving Silver as a Gift

Cons of sterling silver

Some of the drawbacks of sterling silver include:

Prone to tarnishing: Real sterling silver reacts with air, moisture, and chemicals to tarnish over time. Even though it’s easy to polish this tarnish away, it still requires occasional maintenance.
Not hypoallergenic: Sterling silver contains metals like copper or nickel, which can cause allergic reactions in people with sensitive skin. If you’re concerned about skin sensitivity, you might want to consider hypoallergenic alternatives like titanium or silver-plated jewellery.

What is pure silver?

Pure silver, also called ‘fine silver’ or ‘.999 silver’, is a naturally occuring metal made up of 99.9% silver with just 0.1% trace impurities. Like gold and copper, silver is found in natural ores and requires very little processing to extract.

Silver was widely used as a currency by ancient civilisations such as the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans. Because it’s so soft and malleable, silver could easily be hammered into sheets, making it popular for decorating and jewellery making.

Keep Reading: The Fineness and Purity Of Silver Explained

Pros of pure silver

Some of the advantages of pure silver include:

Easy to work with: Silver is highly malleable, which means it can easily be shaped into intricate designs for jewellery and manufacturing.
Highly conductive: Silver is the most conductive of all the metals. This makes it an essential material in modern technology, where it’s widely used in electronics, batteries, and even solar panels.
Antibacterial: Silver has natural antibacterial properties and a low toxicity to humans, making it valuable in medical applications like surgical equipment, water purification, or wound dressings.

Cons of pure silver

Some of the drawbacks of pure silver include:

Too soft for everyday use: Silver’s softness can be an advantage, making it easy to shape, but it also means that silver isn’t strong enough to withstand daily wear and tear. It’s too delicate to be used in jewellery or other items that need to hold their shape over time, which is why it’s often alloyed.
Expensive: Pure silver is more expensive than silver alloys like sterling silver. This higher price makes it less practical for everyday items, especially when there are more durable and affordable options available.

What’s the difference between sterling silver and pure silver?

The main difference between sterling silver and pure silver comes down to purity. Pure silver contains 99.9% silver with only trace amounts of impurities, while sterling silver is made up of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals.

This difference in purity adds a range of other differences to the two metals:

Strength and durability

Pure silver’s softness means it’s easy to bend or dent, which is why it’s rarely used for items that experience regular wear and tear. It’s ideal for delicate jewellery like earrings or brooches that don’t need to be handled too often, but it’s not suitable for rings, bracelets, and other items that need to hold their shape over time.

Sterling silver solves this problem by adding hardier metals to the mix, making it stronger, more durable, and better able to withstand everyday use without losing its shape or structure. This is why you’ll often see sterling silver used for rings, necklaces, cutlery, and other items that are handled more often in day-to-day life.

Tarnishing and oxidation

Both pure and sterling silver can tarnish over time, but sterling silver is more prone to tarnishing because of the other metals in the alloy. Tarnishing happens when silver reacts with sulphides and hydrogen sulphide found in the air, on the skin, and even in items like onions or rubber.

The tarnish that forms on pure silver is called a patina, and it’s considered by some collectors to be an attractive sign of age and authenticity. Sterling silver tarnish happens faster due to the copper content, which oxidises quicker and leads to dullness and discolouration.

In both pure and sterling silver, the tarnish can easily be removed with regular polishing.

Cost

Sterling silver jewelry is generally less expensive than pure silver because it contains less silver content. This makes it more practical and affordable for everyday items and jewellery, while pure silver is reserved for investment or specialised uses.

Versatility

The added strength and affordability of sterling silver makes it more versatile than pure silver. It’s often used in jewellery, cutlery, household items, and decorative pieces. Pure silver, on the other hand, is mostly used for delicate items that require minimal handling, electronics, and investment-grade bullion products like silver bars and silver investment coins.

Sterling silver vs silver

The table below summarises the key differences between sterling silver and pure silver:

	STERLING SILVER	PURE SILVER
COMPOSITION	92.5% silver, 7.5% other metals (usually copper or nickel)	99.9% pure silver, 0.1% trace impurities
STRENGTH & DURABILITY	Stronger and more durable	Soft and malleable, dents easily
TARNISHING	More prone to tarnishing	Less prone to tarnishing but still develops a patina over time
APPEARANCE	Bright and shiny	Slightly duller with greyish undertones
USES	Jewellery, cutlery, decorative items	Investment bullion, delicate items, industrial applications
COST	More affordable	More expensive

Understanding silver hallmarks

Silver hallmarks are small symbols stamped on silver items to confirm their authenticity, purity, and origin. In the UK, the 1973 Hallmarking Act requires all manufactured silver items above a certain weight to be hallmarked so that buyers understand the value of their silver.

The fineness mark, which is always enclosed in an oval shape, indicates the purity of silver:

999 indicates pure silver or fine silver
925 indicates sterling silver.

Other silver hallmarks include:

Maker’s mark: This identifies the individual or company who produced or submitted the item for testing
Assay office mark: This shows where the item was tested and certified. In the UK, assay offices are in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Edinburgh.

Older sterling silver items might feature the lion passant stamp, a historic indication of sterling silver. The Britannia stamp (a figure of Britannia) is also used for items made from 95.7% silver (also known as Britannia silver).

Learn More: The Britannia Coin - All You Need to Know

Some older silver items might also include a date letter, which indicates the year an item was assayed, but this stamp is no longer compulsory under UK law.

Sterling silver hallmarks

Sterling silver can be identified by some of the following hallmarks:

925
925/1000
92.5% pure
Ster
Sterling
Sterling Silver.