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Sterling silver is composed of 92.5% silver alloyed with copper to strengthen it. Silver has one of the highest reflectivity value of any metal, giving it unmatched brilliance, making it perfect for jewelry designs. Silver is also relatively abundant and easy to extract from ore, so it is, at the same time, relatively affordable making it ideal for jewelry that will appeal to a wide audience.

Hallmarking places a stamped mark on the silver to identify its origin and purity and is often an important part of determining the value of a collectible piece.

The cleaning of sterling silver can be a burdensome task, which is why much of the silver jewelry manufactured today has various types of anti-tarnish finishes ranging from a flash overlay of pure silver, waxes, proprietary coatings and the currently very popular rhodium plating. Rhodium in fact is a much more expensive raw material, but does not have quite the high brilliance of silver; however its superior anti-tarnish property outweighs its lower reflectivity value.