Dear Friends, I am intrigued with this non tarnish silver and wish to
purchase some for myself to experiment with. I have a jewelry booth
on a Pier over saltwater and you can imagine the headaches I have
with sterling and the salt air!!! Does anyone know a supplier in the
US for this material??? Thanks ever so much for any help.
Sincerely, Suzanne
Dear Suzanne,
Doc or Mel at United Precious Metal Refining supply almost everyone
with one of 10 different alloys to make sterling silver. I use
Sterling D, Sterling 88 and most recently Sterling 57. They are the
experts. Thier number is 800-999-FINE. They can tell you depending how
you make your product what to use.
Best Regards,
Tr the Teacher
Todd Hawkinson
Here is the web address for United Precious Metal refining, Inc.
Paul:
I am hardly qualified to have an opion on the subject but I have had
a similar question for several years.I electroplated a brass knife
handle several years ago and tho it has been unprotected,it has not
tarnished.Presumably the plating is pure silver because of the
process used.A silver dollar was used as the silver source but I
would expect that is not significant.
Ralph Cross
Fremont Jewelers
Just for the record: A silver dollar is not silver. You either used
a “coin silver” dolaar, if it’s old, or you used a nickel clad
dollar. Maybe you electroplated with nickel, which is bright and
won’t tarnish.
Wayne
Actually, I think the fact that it was a silver dollar is quite
significant; coin silver is only about 90% silver, and have you ever
seen a silver coin tarnish? In theory, Sterling is supposed not to
tarnish as quickly/badly as pure (“fine”) silver, I have been told.
Margaret
Actually, I think the fact that it was a silver dollar is quite significant; coin silver is only about 90% silver, and have you ever seen a silver coin tarnish? In theory, Sterling is supposed not to tarnish as quickly/badly as pure ("fine") silver, I have been told.
Dear Margaret, I think it is the other way around. Pure silver does
not tarnish as readily as sterling. Sterling has copper in the mix
and that oxidizes very easily.
Cathy
About the coin silver not tarnishing, this may be due to the fact
that the coin is being handled on a regular basis. It has been
suggested that sterling silverware be used regularly for just this
reason, the handling of the product serves to remove the tarnish.
Margaret, Sorry, you got it backwards. First, 90% silver dollars have
not been available for the past thirty years or so. More
importantly, Sterling silver tarn ishes much more readily than fine
silver. Sterling contains copper, which readily tarnishes, and is
what causes most (no t all) of the oxidation you see on Sterling
silver. Fine silver does tarnish, albeit MUCH more slowly that
Sterling. The current coinage, which is primarily nickel-clad copper
does not tarnish. The older coin silver coins DO in fact tarnish, as
any coin collector can tell you, but if the coin is in circulation,
th e wear stays ahead of the tarnishing, so you don’t see it, just
like the high points on a Sterling ring stay free of oxid ation while
the protected parts tarnish. Finally, there are a number of dips and
lacquers and electrophoretic finishes that can be applied to
Sterling (or most ot her metals) to inhibit the tarnishing, and most
work very well.
Wayne Emery
Jewelry Design Studio
About the coin silver not tarnishing, this may be due to the fact that the coin is being handled on a regular basis. It has been suggested that sterling silverware be used regularly for just this reason, the handling of the product serves to remove the tarnish.
But I have old silver coins stashed away (gonna cast some jewelry
from them sometime) that have not been handled for years, and they
are still not tarnished.
margaret
In theory, Sterling is supposed not to tarnish as quickly/badly as pure ("fine") silver, I have been told.
Margaret, I’m afraid I have to disagree w/you. Sterling is .925
silver and .075 copper, copper being the tarnishing factor in the
sterling. Fine silver (.999) on the other hand (not having the
copper content), is much slower to tarnish, and also you’ll notice
gets little or no oxidation when heated. If I’m blowing smoke please
correct me folks, lord knows, I’ve been known to make mistakes! 
Lisa
In theory, Sterling is supposed not to tarnish as quickly/badly as pure ("fine") silver, I have been told.
G’day; May I offer the suggestion that whilst sterling silver will
literally oxidize and thus tarnish because of it’s copper content,
fine silver will not; it isn’t easy to make silver oxide especially
by heating - and besides, silver oxide is white, anyway. I am
pretty sure that tarnish on either type of silver is mostly due to
the atmosphere containing sulphur compounds. Both copper sulphide
and silver sulphide are black, but only copper oxide is black.
If you live in the country your silver won’t tarnish anywhere nearly
as quickly as it would if you lived in an industrial centre. Even
small towns have sulphur in the air due to household fires and to
motor vehicles. And highly polished articles will withstand surface
deterioration better than matte finish - less surface area.
Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ
As a sideline to the subject of tarnish on sterling silver, We
stored some of my wife’s antique silver spoons and wrapped them with
aluminun foil. Five months later they looked great. While not
perfect, they were better than the previous year without the foil.