The choice of gold and silver is never based on which metal is harder and more durable. Mostly everyone looks at its beauty in the product. Some people like warm shades of gold. Some people are crazy about the cold shine of silver. And only after buying a piece of jewelry that I liked and wearing it for a couple of months, I understand that it was worth paying attention to the question of what is softer, silver or gold. You wouldn’t have to take a completely new piece of jewelry to the workshop to fix annoying scratches and dents.
Buying jewelry is not only a way to highlight your personal style. It is also a significant investment in your self-expression. To avoid disappointment very soon after the purchase, it is worth weighing the pros and cons regarding all the characteristics of the jewelry, and not just the price of gold or silver and how the jewelry looks on you.
How are these metals different?
Two elements of the periodic table of Mendeleev, similar in some properties, have more differences:
- atomic number (79 for Au and 47 for Ag);
- atomic mass (Au - 196.96654 a.m.u., Ag - 107.8682 a.m.u.).
Gold is denser than silver: 19.32 g/cm³ versus 10.5 g/cm³. If you melt them into balls with a diameter of 1 cm, the gold one will be almost twice as heavy. Both metals are highly ductile, but not refractory: the melting point of Au is 1064.18 °C, Ag - 962 °C.
Composition, strength and durability
In the jewelry industry, these precious metals are not used in their pure form, due to their softness - 2.5 on the Mohs scale (gold is a little softer, silver is harder).
Expert opinion
Vsevolod Kozlovsky
6 years in jewelry making. Knows everything about samples and can identify a fake in 12 seconds
The wear resistance of pure gold, like silver, is low. You can even deform a gold ring or a silver chain with your hands, so to ensure resistance to mechanical damage, an alloy is added to the metal - impurities of harder metals (copper, nickel, palladium and others). Jewelry made from such alloys is stronger and lasts longer.
Gold is more inert. The probability that a substance with which it can react by chance will be nearby is vanishingly small, so gold tarnishes over time only due to the oxidation of the alloy. And silver reacts with hydrogen sulfide present in the air and requires cleaning - removing the sulfide film from the surface.
Appearance and markings
It is not difficult to distinguish classic jewelry alloys: one has a characteristic yellow color, the other white. The reflectivity of both is high, so precious items shine attractively.
Alloying (alloying with other metals) gold allows you to change the shade: there is not only yellow, but also white, pink and even green. It is difficult to distinguish white from silver by eye, but it is possible if you put two pieces of jewelry next to each other: silver has a cold “steel” shine.
The shape of the mark is different. Silver is marked, like all precious metals in Russia, with a woman’s profile in a kokoshnik, but the mark on it is “barrel”, while gold is marked with a “shovel”.
Difference between different purity grades
If you go to a jewelry store, you will be offered a variety of gold hallmarks to choose from: 375, where only 37.5% pure metal, 585 (58.5%) and 750 (75%). Such an alloy can be called pure only symbolically - impurities were introduced into it to impart strength (mainly copper).
The silver on the market is almost pure: the common standard is 925, the alloy makes up 7.5% of the alloy weight. The second most popular - 875 - is less prestigious, but it also contains more pure metal than the elite gold 750 standard.
Often the fastener on a product is made of an alloy with a lower breakdown - it is stronger, and the risk of breaking the item is lower.
Differences in GOST standards and quality
GOSTs are developed by the Standardization Committee and describe the composition of alloys and maximum deviations from the nominal impurity content. For conventionally pure bank gold of 999.9 purity, trace amounts of lead, antimony, bismuth, iron, silver and copper are acceptable. The mass of the alloy must not exceed 0.01% of the mass of the product (ingot), otherwise it will not be recognized as complying with the standard. Copper can be up to 0.007%, and antimony - only 0.001%.
In 925 silver (an alloy with copper, where copper is nominally 7.5%), the presence of iron is possible - up to 0.1% of the mass. The content of the base metal in the sample can vary from 92.2 to 92.8%.
Effect on skin
Since both metals are inert, in their pure or mostly pure form they will not affect your health. I don't know anyone who complains of allergies to jewelry. However, this happens: it is not the metal that causes the reaction, but the alloy added to the alloy. Allergies to nickel are more common, so buy gold jewelry with caution and inquire about its composition if you are allergic.
It is almost impossible to find nickel in jewelry silver in an amount sufficient for the reaction to develop.
Price and demand
Gold is ten times more expensive. This is a kind of paradox: over the entire history of mankind, silver has been mined 4 times more, but its market share is much lower and it is less common. Now the amount of gold in the world is growing - both absolutely and relative to the amount of silver. It would seem that silver should rise in price, but so far this has not happened. Experts attribute this to the fact that:
- Silver is traded on exchanges in the form of paper contracts, and there are many more of them than the metal itself.
- People, out of habit, underestimate this metal, considering it unprestigious and suitable only for industrial use.
Perhaps the situation will change in the future: the precious metals market is not so predictable.
What stones are suitable
Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, that is, expensive stones, are often inlaid into gold jewelry. It is believed that desaturated or transparent inserts look better with a warm shade of gold.
Agate, onyx, jade, iolite, stones of dense saturated colors, cold in shade, are suitable for silver.
What is the choice of doctors
Scientists say that gold has a tonic effect, and silver has a calming effect. In other words, if you have a poor appetite, often feel headaches and dizziness, and constantly want to sleep, then silver will only aggravate your condition. It should be worn by active, cheerful and emotional people.
In addition, it is known that there are points on the skin that correspond to one or another internal organ. If one of them is enlarged for some reason (due to illness), then wearing gold at that point will only worsen its function, causing inflammation and swelling. If the situation is the opposite, then gold, on the contrary, will activate the functioning of the organ.
It is not advisable to independently determine which metal is suitable for your body - silver or gold. In this case, it is better to contact a specialist. Basically, homeopathic doctors determine the health benefits of a metal using the Reinhold Voll method. To do this, the patient is given a device with a metal sample, and special sensors are attached to active points on the skin. But not all experts consider the results of such a test to be reliable, so they prefer to use a blood test to determine the body’s reaction to both metals.
All experiments with rings, which have become very popular today, cannot be called effective treatment. This method can only be considered as an addition to the traditional one.
Advantages and disadvantages of silver and gold
The main disadvantage of silver - the formation of a sulfide film - is easily eliminated by cleaning. Gold also darkens - copper oxidizes. Otherwise, when choosing pendants and bracelets, it is better to evaluate them from the point of view of personal liking.
There is a belief that gold jewelry can be an investment for a rainy day. This is wrong. It is, of course, possible to sell the metal, but they will accept it at the price of scrap, and this is extremely cheap. It will not be possible to save money this way: a significant part of the price of an item is the cost of the design and work of the jeweler.
Golden water
We can recommend a very original method of nourishing the body to all those who are “friendly” with gold and are in dire need of its life-giving “solar” energy. It was known in ancient times. We will talk about drinking the so-called “golden water”. To prepare it, a gold jewelry (preferably a ring without precious stones) is placed in a container with two glasses of water and boiled until half the volume of water has boiled away. Take 1 tsp of “golden water” internally. 3 times a day. The product gives energy to the heart, causing any pulse to become stable and even. “Golden Water” stimulates the processes of memorization and promotes the awakening of spiritual consciousness in a person.
Source
What is better to invest in?
Expert opinion
Lyudmila Pestereva
Our most experienced gold investor
Ask a Question
When purchasing bullion, you need to store it somewhere. From this point of view, investing in gold is more convenient: it is more expensive and requires less space. But silver production is falling (and it is constantly in demand by industry), the imbalance is increasing, and there is a chance that silver will rise in price several times in the coming years.
You decide. Investments involve both material risk and the possibility of substantial reward.
Economists' opinion
For many, precious metals, or rather the purchase of them, are a good way to protect their money from inflation. Both metals are precious, so the choice can be difficult. Let's consider the main criteria that will help you decide:
- Market size. The silver market is ten times smaller than the gold market. At the same time, there is several times more silver in the world (in various forms), and to be precise, four times.
- Volatility. It is the small market for silver that makes it more volatile. Because of this, rising and falling silver prices are commonplace. Bottom line - investing your money in this metal can be risky. But at the same time, prices for it can rise several times faster than for gold. The second half of 2010 is a clear example of this.
- Market presence. The world knows many more deposits of silver than gold. Seeing this trend, experts fear that gold production may soon decline. This will entail a number of economic changes. There have never been such concerns regarding silver. Therefore, if there is much more of it, then the price of both precious metals will never be the same. This argument could be a significant reason for silver prices to fall while gold prices rise.
Which metal jewelry is best to choose?
It is believed that gold looks better on older ladies, and silver on young women. Young people consider this a prejudice and wear gold things with pleasure. What is best for a person to wear is a matter of his style and preferences.
For a man
Strict graphic patterns and laconic forms suit the stronger sex. Yellow metal looks good on the “southern” color type - men with dark skin, dark hair and eyes. For the “northern” type (pale skin, blond hair), it is better to choose white gold or silver.
For woman
Recommendations for girls and ladies are also based on color typing. If your appearance is dominated by warm colors, feel free to buy yellow and red gold, if you are “cold” - silver.
Fashionable sentence. New trends in design. New combinations of two metals at the same time
Young people prefer to buy gold and silver jewelry, focusing on their financial capabilities. When chosen correctly, these noble metals look trendy. Every girl who follows fashion trends knows about a new jewelry solution - a combination of 2 types of elements in one piece of jewelry.
This season, it is more fashionable than ever to wear gold rings, small earrings combined with rings, inlaid with unusual stones or inserts. For people who are not ready to overpay for jewelry, jewelers have developed a series of silver jewelry with interesting gold accents.
And since fashion trends are fickle, it is more profitable for young people to change jewelry made of inexpensive metal.
Men's ring with garnet
Main differences
It has been known since ancient times that silver fights microbes. Scientists have found that a special solution based on silver can kill E. coli and fight staphylococcus. Our ancestors, of course, had no idea about such properties, but even then they began to give newborns a small spoon made of this metal. It was also believed that drinking water and eating from silver dishes was very beneficial for health, but only rich nobles could afford such luxuries.
