The Latin name given to silver is “Argentum”. This is why Silver is identified in the Periodic Table with the symbol “Ag”.  Silver is element number 47 on the Periodic Table. It is a transition metal –along with some other 30 metals–, and has special properties that we will talk about.

It is soft, malleable (meaning it can be pounded and beat into a thin sheet of silver) and ductile (it can be stretched into a thin silver cable that could be miles long). Its color white, shinny and metallic, reflects the light like a mirror. Silver has a special lustre. This makes Silver very attractive and desirable as an ornament or as designer silver jewellery. Not only ladies of all eras and ages wore incredible handcrafted silver jewellery composed of rings with engraved precious stones, silver bracelets, silver necklaces, diadems, belts, anklets, etc., but in the palaces of kings and emperors , sultans and powerful men, tableware, silverware, utensils, dishes, chandeliers, candelabras, mirrors, trays and many other artefacts were also made of pure silver.

The only inconvenient of costume silver jewellery being its tendency to tarnish when in contact with the sulphur in the air. Butlers and maids were always busy buffering and polishing the silver to keep it always shinny and at its best. Mens silver rings with intricate filigrees were also common in the olden days. Silver, even more than Gold, is the best electricity and heat conductor there is.  Being too expensive to be used randomly in everyday electric equipment, its use is reserved for when highly technical electronic performance is required of delicate instruments of navigation, etc.

Silver has been mined and utilized as money or wholesale silver jewellery since time immemorial. The earliest Silver mines known were in Anatolia, Turkey, some 4000 BC.  Very famous were the silver mines in Laurion, Greece, about 3000BC.  Silver was made popular and minted into coins that were then used for trading and exchanging goods and services not only in Greece, but also in surrounding countries as well. One special coin that the Greeks minted in those days was the famous “silver owl”, actually shaped as an owl.

China learned how to separate Silver from other metals way back in 2500BC. Spain was loaded with silver in the days of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who cleverly found out how to extract the silver and commercialize it right in front of the natives. Later on –after Columbus discovered America–, the Spaniards established silver mines in Peru and Mexico and claimed them for the Spanish Crown.  Nowadays Mexico is still number one producer of silver all over the world, followed by Peru and Australia. Costume silver jewellery is on demand nowadays, as more and more people buy silver jewellery instead of gold jewellery. And whether or not you refer to it as silver jewellery or silver jewelry, the point is that silver is a popular jewelry piece for all to enjoy.