I was just wondering if anyone knew if 999 silver responds to a
magnet? I am wondering what is in my silver?
Thanks Leslie
No silver is not magnetic but nickel and iron are. do you have nickel
silver A white Brass with no silver at all.
If it came from Mexico or S America it is called alpaca and is what
a lot of Mexican market silver is. It isn’t legal to sell as silver
but the people are poor and need the money. I can spot it but never
checked any with a magnet. so this may be only a WAG.
jesse
Yes, Leslie. That is a good question. What is in your silver? When I
am afraid that some steel has gotten into my box of silver scraps I
use a magnet to fish them out. The silver, both the fine and the
sterling just remain imobile. Doesn’t respond at all to the magnet.
weird that your silver responds.
Alma
Dear Leslie -
I’m working as a goldsmith now, and lots of people come in every day
to sell their jewelry as scrap. I watch my boss test it all with a
large magnet - amazing what pretty things turn out to be gold or
silver plated!
Kelley
I was just wondering if anyone knew if 999 silver responds to a magnet? I am wondering what is in my silver?
cobalt?
Iron, Cobalt and Nickle are magnetic. Some ceramics are magnetic,
usually from something included in them. Then so are some rare earths
(rare earth magnets).
John
John Atwell Rasmussen
www.rasmussengems.com
I frequently work on sterling silver flutes and piccolos. These are
not plated instruments. They also frequently have solid gold spring
wire to operate the key mechanisms. A magnet easily could be used by
a less than honest person to demonstrate that the instrument was not
solid by sticking it to one of the keys which has a steel arbor or
hinge rod running through it. Often times Sterling instruments are
not marked. Although a magnet might be a good first test in the hands
of an honest person, I wouldn’t accept it as the final test unless I
was sure I was dealing with a reputable person. Conversely, highly
polished unplated nickle silver/german silver instruments look like
silver to the untrained eye but of course they contain no silver and
are not magnetic either.
Matt
I’ve been reading this - useful stuff. Nobody’s really answered the
question, though.
No, silver does not respond to a magnet, period. If you have a
silver it em that’s magnetic, there’s something else there. Perhaps
you melted a spring ring without removing the spring?