At Lustora, we use a variety of high-quality metals to craft our jewelry, including Argentium, sterling silver, 14k gold-filled, and 18k gold-plated pieces. Depending on the piece, we offer a variety of metal options, which you can select to customize your jewelry when you add it to your cart. Aside from aesthetic preference (Maybe you just love the look of traditional gold with topaz!), things like skin sensitivity, durability, and necessary care and upkeep are all things to consider when choosing your metal. Here’s an overview of each of the metals we use to help you make the perfect pick.
Sterling Silver
You’re probably familiar with sterling silver, as it’s a very popular jewelry metal and has been for a long long time. But, did you know that sterling silver is actually an alloy made up of silver and other metals? Standard sterling silver is made up of 92.5% pure silver plus the remaining small percentage of other metals such as copper mixed in. The added copper or other metals are a good thing. They make the silver stronger and more durable, which is perfect for jewelry that you want to wear every day and love for a lifetime. But, these extra metals also cause fire stain and tarnishing when exposed to air, which means that sterling silver has to be regularly cleaned to keep its color and shine.
Argentium
Argentium is one of a new generation of silver alloys. It uses Germanium instead of the usual copper, and it was developed specifically to combat the tarnishing that occurs as silver oxidizes, the primary drawback for fans of silver jewelry. More expensive than sterling silver, Argentium actually contains a higher concentration of pure silver depending on the grade. It’s a bit whiter and brighter usually, and it’s seven times more tarnish resistant, too!
14k Gold-Filled
14k gold-filled metal is a durable gold option which offers the look of solid gold at a fraction of the cost. It’s made by bonding a layer of 14k gold to a base metal (ours is brass).
Gold-filled metal is sturdier than gold-plated—which has a much thinner coating that can turn colors and chip off—and vermeil, which tends to rub off through normal wear. The gold-filled materials we use are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission and must contain 1/20th of 14k gold.
Hesitant to wear gold-filled jewelry due to a nickel allergy or sensitivity? If you can wear gold, you can wear our gold-filled jewelry worry-free. All of our metals are 100% nickel-free.
Plated Metals
We do use gold-plated, rose gold-plated, and silver-plated metals in some of our pieces. In these instances, it is always 18k gold or rose gold plating, or sterling silver plating over jeweler’s brass.
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