What 925 sterling silver actually means

If you look closely at the inside of a silver ring or the tag on a chain, you will often find a tiny stamp that reads 925. That number is not decoration. It tells you the piece is sterling silver, and it is the reason the jewellery holds up to daily life.

Pure silver is too soft to wear

Silver in its pure form is soft enough to bend with your hands. A ring made from it would lose its shape within weeks. To make something wearable, pure silver is mixed with a small amount of another metal, usually copper, which adds strength while keeping the bright colour and the weight people associate with real silver.

Reading the number

The 925 stamp means the alloy is 92.5 percent pure silver and 7.5 percent other metal by weight. This ratio is the international standard for sterling silver. Anything below it is not sterling, and pieces sold as silver plated have only a thin silver coating over a base metal that will show through as the coating wears.

What hallmarking adds

A hallmark goes a step further than a maker stamp. It is applied after an independent assay office tests the metal and confirms the purity. In India this is done through BIS. When we say a Vrisha piece is hallmarked, we mean the silver content has been verified by someone other than us. You can read more about how we work in our story.

Why it matters for your skin

Good sterling silver is nickel free, which is what makes it safe for most people with sensitive skin and for freshly pierced ears. Cheaper alloys often use nickel to cut costs, and that is a common cause of the redness and itching people blame on silver in general. If a past piece irritated your skin, the alloy was likely the problem, not the metal.

Living with it

Sterling silver will darken slowly with air and moisture. This is normal and it cleans off easily. The habits that keep it bright are simple, and we have written them up in how to keep sterling silver bright. Everything we make in verified 925 sits in the fine silver collection.