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What does the 925 in Sterling Silver mean?
925 Sterling Silver
Pure silver is a very soft metal. While that does make it very easy to bend and move into different shapes, it also means that it is suscepitable to scratches and damage. To make the silver more durable and less prone to damage, the 100% pure silver is mixed with 7.5% of other alloys such as copper.
So, 925 Sterling Silver is 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other alloys. 92.5% is shown as "925".
Jewellery which is 925 Sterling silver should be stamped with the mark "925". Sometimes you sill see an "S" in front the the number.
You may see the "925" mark on jewellery which does not appear to be silver. The price of silver is only a fraction of the price of gold. To view the current prices for gold and silver - click HERE.
As I write this (16 Oct 2025) the current gold price is NZ$7,373 per oz, whereas silver is NZ$92.62 per oz. So silver on this date was around 1% the price of gold.
Why does jewellery which appears to be gold have the "925" stamp?
Because of the huge different in price between gold and silver, jewellery is often made in silver (as it is much cheaper) and plated with gold. So you may see jewellery which appears to be gold, but has a base metal of silver and is PLATED in gold.
