Types of Jewellery plating
As a silver jewellery wholesaler, it is important to bring all valuable information to our customers. Before going into the types of plating of silver jewellery, I would like to remind what silver and 925 silver is.
Silver is a natural material, which can be found in the Earth's crust, just like alloy or gold.
"Ag" is the chemical element symbol for silver. Most silver is produced and used as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, or zinc. This combination has been necessary to give silver its strength and rigidity. The same applies to jewelry.
925 or 925/1000 is the level of pure silver contained in the material; it is the highest garde used. At All4silver, we only sell jewelry using 92.5% silver; the rest of 7.5% is made of copper and iron. While pure 99.9% silver does not change its color over time, the necessary mix with other metal explained above, makes it tarnish over time when exposed to oxygen.
Some competitors use lower grade of silver mostly, such as 805 silver (80.5% silver content), which leads to poorer quality, less shininess, and a cheaper price, which also means lower value (resell value). With
925 silver jewelry, you have the guarantee to be able to resell the jewelry for its material value. See the
current silver price here. Because of the price fluctuation of silver, our wholesale jewelry prices are also subject to fluctuation.
Silver is a noble material, its pure classy tint makes it a perfect fit on every skin colour and outfit style. It can be perfectly combined with other jewellery, like gold jewellery or steel jewellery. That`s why Silver jewellery trend never stopped but evolves not only in design but in colors as well, this thanks tio different types of plating which we willl explain below:
999 Silver Plating on 925 Silver Jewelry
Why would we add silver plating to silver jewelry you ask? Well, as mentioned above, silver is mixed with mostly copper and zinc to give its strength (otherwise, the jewelry could get scratches and bent easily). Fortunately, this doesn't prohibit us to add a layer of 99.9% silver to protect, prevent tarnishing, and to give the real silver shinines to the jewellery. And that's exactly what we do for most of our silver jewellery that got a bigger surface area of plainsilver.
E-Coating on Silver Jewelry
E-coating is an electro-deposition, also called "electro-coating" that is realized using electrucal current that covers the silver surface with an organic thin laquer. This technique perfectlty covers the entire jewellery. Through this electric process every part is evenly and consistently covered with this anti-tarnishing coat. This layer prevents the jewelery to tarnish too fast, like a second skin. E-coat is really useful for all our children jewellery as it extends its lifetime.
Platinum Coating on Silver Jewellery
The platinum-plated jewellery recently added to our wholesale collection is a small revolution in our industry. We have already mentioned that silver can tarnish or oxidize; it is soft and therefore it is suvbject to scratches. Platinum is the exact opposite. Platinum is extremely resistant to tarnishing/oxidation and is very hard and strong. By adding Platinum to our silver jewellery, we obtain a product that is both tarnish-resistant and durable over time. We are currently working on expanding our collection due to an increasing demand of platinum silver jewellery. See here for our new platinum plated wholesale jewelry.
Gold Plating on Silver Jewellery
Silver jewelry with gold plating has never been as popular as it is today. The applied gold is real gold, the silver underneath is real silver, and the overall price is way more affordable than jewellery made entirely with gold. Of course, this growing trend and demand among celebrities and fashion enthusiasts wouldn't exist if the look wasn`t as attractive and shiny as real gold jewelry. We offer wholesale gold-plated silver jewelry with 24K gold, which we apply on our jewellery through an electrochemical process. Click here to see our collection of gold-plated jewelry at wholesale prices.
Rose Gold Plating on Silver Jewellery
The process is similar to gold plating. The silver jewellery is dipped in a rose gold solution, and the electricity is run through so the plating adheres to the silver metal. The rose gold color is obtained by mixing the gold with copper, which transforms the yellow color of gold into this reddish hue.
Rhodium Plating on Silver Jewellery
TAlso for rhodium plating, the process is the same as for the others: electroplating (also called electrolysis). Rhodium is an interesting material as it reinforces the jewelry, is highly tarnish-resistant, and gives the jewelry a darker silver look. The downside of rhodium is its high price due to its rarity. Here you can find our wholesale Rhodium jewellery collection.
