Sterling Silver quality!!!! or was it?

[Fran]

Hi folks!

A word of warning!!!

I received a phonecall from the the Assay office this afternoon telling me that a number of my items failed the assay test :confused: ..................why!!!!

I purchased Bali hook clasps direct from a Balinesse supplier which highly promotes their products as .925 Sterling Silver, now I've used this company for years without any problems in the past but this time the Assay office has come back and told me that the quality ran between 635% to 700% Silver. :mad:

It just goes to show that unless you purchase from a supplier that is governed by the same rules and regulations as the UK there is no guarantee that you are getting what you think you are getting.

I've emailed the supplier for an explaination and have the assay office's back up should they give me any problems.

I purchased 100 of these flipping clasps which are now of no use to me.:mad:

Be careful in what you buy!!

Fran

[beadhead]

Hi Fran

I'm sure I read somewhere that the antiquing solution that is on the Bali silver can sometimes affect the reading of it's silver content. Although I'm not sure whether it would make such a vast difference as that.

I have to say that if the silver content is really that low, it's very worrying. I use Bali silver in the pieces that go to a gallery and I always list them as .925. May have to rethink about whether I use it now.

[silverthistlebeads]

That is worrying, I stock a lot of Bali items and do so based on the silver content.

Think I better double check.

Francesca

[Fran]

I thought I had posted an update last night but I guess not.

Yes, it is worrying...........

I've had the Assay office send me copies of the spectrographs and the results are not good.

An example of analysis is: Ag = 75.4%, Cu = 19.9%, Zn = 1.4%, Ni = 3.3%

As requested by the Bali supplier I have emailed them copies so that they can compare alongside their own results. In the meantime they have taken all the clasps off the self from the Silversmith used and are making a new batch. The supplier like most if not all use Silversmiths outwith the 'shop' and do random testing on the products turned over by them, so as a supplier they are at the mercy of the Silversmiths honesty and
Integrity, which in this case failed them.

I value my reputation and don't need this kind of problem, for that matter none of us do.

It's a real shame!! until this I never doubted the value of their silver and swore by their products.

[Bea]

Gosh! That's a bit of an eye opener, isn't it!!

[jackwilson74]

ohh really, I actually had no clue about it. now I too fell its very worrying..