Tiffany 925 silver jewelry

What Is Tiffany 925 silver jewelry? The famous Tiffany symbols: the little blue box, the engraved T&Co., 1837 and 925. But what is 925? The 925 engraving on a Tiffany product represents the item as sterling silver, since the percentage grade of the American Sterling Silver Standard is 925. It's a standard that was pioneered in the United States by none other than Tiffany & Co. itself.

Tiffany Sterling Silver

The compound ratio of metals to silver by weight that makes up standard sterling silver is 92.5 percent silver to 7.5 percent metal, hence sterling silver is 925/1000 proof silver. It is to this that the Tiffany mark of 925 refers to, signifying that all Tiffany & Co. silver products meet the American and British Sterling Silver Standard in grade. Because of the extremely malleable properties of silver, other metals, such as copper, must be added to achieve a practical strength. Thus sterling silver is not a pure or "fine silver," but it is instead an alloy.

History of Sterling

The sterling silver standard (the 925 ratio) first originated in England around the 14th century, when King Edward I declared it mandatory for all silversmiths to manufacture silver products with 92.5 percent pure silver. The name "sterling standard" derived from the term for the contemporary British silver penny, known as a starling in reference to its visual property of "shining like the stars," starling literally meaning "little star."

Starling silver was thus coin silver proof, 925 pure silver parts per 1,000. There are a few countries whose sterling standard is lower than 925, though in the United States sterling 925 was adopted as the the American standard in the late 19th century after the popular use of the British standard by Tiffany & Co.

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