New silver alloy

Jewelry Discussion
1

Is anyone familiar with a sterling silver made by UNITED and
known as # 57 or # 97 ? They are supposed to be recently developed
and with features such as :

Very tarnish resistant
Low fire scale potential
Etc.

I would appreciate info from those that may have tried this
alloy.

Thanks,

Bob B

2

Bob B-
Yes, absolutely! UPM (United Precious Metals) has a silver alloy
called #57. They call it a de-oxidized sterling and it is great.
It is the only silver alloy that I use anymore. It seems to be
slightly harder than 92.5 sterling, which is not a bad thing, and
it polishes up beautifully. Also, it casts well, and is a very
white silver rather than the greyish color of the aforementioned
92.5 sterling. I ardently advocate it’s use and have no
connection whatsoever to UPM, except for the money I sometimes
send them.:~) It will cost you about $1.00 over spot, but it is
well worth it. Regards-RL

3

Yo Bob… United’s # 57 sterling alloy is made with tin (and
other stuff). While you do bypass some of the attendant problems
associated with copper in the sterling make-up,(ie: fire scale)
you lose the tradition sterling gleam, or color. Some platers
contend that it causes problems with plating. Ask a plater to
verify that. Also while polishing the tin heats up at the point
where the friction is the greatest and smears around (the
illussive pit putty) something pewter casters have known for
hundreds of years. My suggestion is to put it side by side with
traditional sterling and compare before you decide. John

4

Thanks for the info on #57 silver.My question is: Wil it still
patina with liver of sulver and stay in recessed areas? I hope so
. Tired of repolishing.

Thanks,
Sonja Bradley

5

Bob yes and united makes good solder and casting shot . the
silver shot that you talk about is very good. and you can call
and ask for teck.data 1800 999-fine happy casting

Jack
www.jvpjewelry.com

6

Hi Bob,

I have used a sterling casting grain from Rio that has some (or
all) the copper content replaced with silicon. Makes the
castings come out cleaner, and supposedly tarnish resistant. I
don’t know if you can get stock material (sheet and wire) in
this alloy… I suspect it might have different properties that
would make it unsuitable for fabrication.

I’d be interested in hearing more if you find out anything!

Dave

Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio
Charlotte, NC (USA)
dave@sebaste.com
http://www.sebaste.com

7

Is anyone familiar with a sterling silver made by UNITED and
known as # 57 or # 97 ? They are supposed to be recently developed
and with features such as :
Very tarnish resistant
Low fire scale potential

I do very little silver work. About six months ago, I started
doing some knife handles. The #57 is great. It’s a little more
expensive, but I think well worth it.

Bruce D. Holmgrain
e-mail: @Bruce_Holmgrain
http:\www.knight-hub.com\manmtndense\bhh3.htm
snail mail: 311 Sugarland Run Drive, Sterling, VA 20164
phone:: 703-593-4652

8 
 Is anyone familiar with a sterling silver made by UNITED and
known as # 57 or # 97 ? They are supposed to be recently
developed and with features such as

I have been using #57 for quite some time. I should say first,
we really don’t do much in silver. I only have good impressions,
it comes out bright from casting, I have never gotten a peice
back that was tarnished. You must let it cool before quenching or
it will crack. I have a box of sprues and buttons that really
have not tarnished much. They don’t have it in mill products, at
least not when I asked a year or so ago.

I very highly recommend their UA1 14K yellow alloy, its
extremely fluid, really great. You all should give this company a
try, excellent technical help. Mark P

9

R.L. Can you tell what are the #57 alloy composition materials.
Biil Ginkgo Designs

10

I have tried the #97 like it a lot the castings come out of the
flask wthout tarnish. Easy clean up but it oxidizes easy enough.
good castings without pourousity problems. what more? Frank

11

I have heard a rumor that Rio gets its alloy from United…

12 
R.L. Can you tell what are the #57 alloy composition materials.
Biil Ginkgo Designs

As I said in the other post, I don’t have any connection with
United Precious Metals, and consequently don’t know the exact
composition of their #57 alloy. I can give their toll free
number- 1-800-999-FINE. You can call and they will be happy to
tell you what it contains but not the exact proportions as I
think that they told me that this is a patented alloy. As someone
else said, they have extremely helpful technicians who are there
to serve. They also have a good gold alloy, but I like the gold
alloy at PM Refining better (#22). Good luck:~) Regards- Ricky Low

13 
 I have heard a *rumor* that Rio gets its alloy from United..

I know for a fact that Stuller does (gold alloy). Mark P.

14

Hi all, When you want to get a handle on the constituants of any
alloy, ask for a MSDS form (Material Safety Data Sheet). By law,
if you purchased the product from them they hav to send you one.
It contains much of the info you seek. J.A. Henkel

15

I posted this message once before but it apparently got lost in
cyberworld. Does the #57 alloy Darken up with Liver of sulpher as
well as sterling or is this a siily question?

Thanks ,Sonja

16 
I posted this message once before but it apparently got lost in
cyberworld. Does the #57 alloy Darken up with Liver of sulpher as
well as sterling or is this a siily question?

Try the #97 if you’re interested in a patina,I think it was
posted already.

17 
I posted this message once before but it apparently got lost in
cyberworld. Does the #57 alloy Darken up with Liver of sulpher as
well as sterling or is this a siily question?

No it won’t. By design it resists tarnishing and liver of
sulphur is just concentrated tarnish. I played around with it
and found that if you plate it with silver then you can oxidize
it but of course the rest of the peice would have no tarnish
resistance unless you polish off the plating.

Brett