C. J. Vander Ltd. - English Silver History & Catalog

C. J. Vander Ltd. - English Silver History & Catalog


Fortunoff, the SourcePaperback
5.8 x 8.3 inches, 23 pages

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.

Fine silver, for example 99.9% pure silver, is relatively soft, so silver is usually alloyed with copper to increase its
hardness and strength. Sterling silver is prone to tarnishing, and elements other than copper can be used in alloys to reduce tarnishing, as well as casting porosity and firescale. Such elements include germanium, zinc, platinum, silicon,
and boron. Recent examples of alloys using these metals include argentium, sterlium, sterilite and silvadium.

In England the composition of sterling silver was subject to official assay at some date before 1158, during the reign of Henry II, but its purity was probably regulated from centuries earlier, in Saxon times. A piece of sterling silver
dating from Henry II's reign was used as a standard in the Trial of the Pyx until it was deposited at the Royal Mint in 1843. It bears the royal stamp ENRI. REX ("King Henry") but this was added later, in the reign of Henry III.
The first legal definition of sterling silver appeared in 1275 with 20 pennyweights to the Troy ounce. This is (not precisely) equivalent to a millesimal fineness of 926.