Top 5 facts about silver (and why I love working with it)
I use sterling silver in every single thing I make. It’s my most used material — apart from blood, sweat and tears. It’s familiar, dependable and endlessly versatile, and I still get a little thrill every time I take a freshly finished piece off the bench. So it felt like a good moment to pause and share a few of my favourite facts about this quietly brilliant metal.
1. Sterling silver isn’t actually pure silver
Sterling silver is an alloy, which often surprises people. Pure silver is beautiful, but it’s also very soft, so for jewellery-making it’s mixed with other metals — usually copper — to give it strength and durability. Sterling silver is made up of 92.5% silver, which is why you’ll see the tiny 925 stamp in the hallmarks applied by the Assay Office. That small mark is a reassurance that what you’re wearing is high-quality precious metal, made to last and to be worn and enjoyed.
2. Silver has a truly global story
Mexico is currently the world’s largest producer of silver, closely followed by Peru, with mining deeply tied to history, industry and culture in both countries. The biggest buyer of silver is the United States, where it’s used not just for jewellery but also for technology, medicine and investment. You can even buy large silver bars from the Royal Mint — including 100oz Britannia bars — which can be delivered to your door or stored securely in their vaults. There have even been James Bond limited-edition silver bars, which somehow feels very fitting for such a glamorous metal.
3. Silver has natural antibacterial properties
For centuries, silver has been valued not just for its beauty but for its practical qualities. Its natural antibacterial properties are the reason wealthy families once fed children using silver spoons — giving rise to the phrase “born with a silver spoon in their mouth.” Long before modern medicine, people understood that silver helped keep things cleaner and safer, and it’s still used today in medical settings and water purification.
4. Silver has always been closely tied to money
Silver was the first precious metal to be widely used as currency, long before gold became dominant. In fact, in several languages the same word is used for both silver and money — a reminder of how deeply connected the two once were. And a lovely little quirk: in English, there is no word that truly rhymes with silver. It stands slightly apart, linguistically and historically.
5. Silver can even influence the weather
One of the more unexpected uses of silver comes in the form of silver iodide, a compound that has been used in cloud seeding to encourage rainfall and even to help control hurricanes. From jewellery to science to weather systems, silver quietly turns up in places you might never expect.
The price of silver — a bit of a roller coaster
If you’ve noticed silver appearing in the news more often, you’re not imagining it. The price of silver has been on quite a ride: it has increased by around 225% since January 2025, and by approximately 64% since December 2025 alone. That’s a remarkable shift for a metal that, for a long time, sat in a much gentler and more predictable range.
As someone who works with silver every day, it’s a reminder that this material has a life far beyond my bench, shaped by global demand, industry and investment. It doesn’t change how much I love working with it, but it does deepen my respect for what it represents — enduring value, resilience, and the way something as humble as metal can quietly reflect the wider world we’re living in.
