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Sterling silver is an alloy composed by weight of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. Tiffany & Co. pitcher ( c. 1871 ) having paneled sides and repoussé design with shells, scrolls and flowers; top edge is repousse arrowhead leaf design
The pound became an English unit of weight and in England became defined as the tower pound (equivalent to 350 grams) of sterling silver. [1] [2] According to the Royal Mint Museum: It is not known for certain when the horizontal line or lines, which indicate an abbreviation, [a] first came to be drawn through the L.
Use of the letter L for pound derives from medieval Latin documents: "L" was the abbreviation for libra, the Roman pound (weight), which in time became an English unit of weight defined as the tower pound. A "pound sterling" was literally a tower pound (weight) of sterling silver.
"The words "silver" and "sterling silver" describe a product that contains 92.5% pure silver. Silver products sometimes may be marked 925, which means that 925 parts per thousand are pure silver. Some jewellery described as "silver plate" has a layer of silver applied to a base metal. "Coin silver" is used for compounds that contain 90% pure ...
Silver vase, c. 2400 BC Karashamb silver goblet, 23rd–22nd century BC. Silver was known in prehistoric times: [63] the three metals of group 11, copper, silver, and gold, occur in the elemental form in nature and were probably used as the first primitive forms of money as opposed to simple bartering. [64]
[1] [2] The currency's symbol is ' £ ', a stylised form of the blackletter 'L' (from libra), crossed to indicate abbreviation. [ 3 ] The term was adopted in England from the weight [ a ] of silver used to make 240 pennies, [ 6 ] and eventually spread to British colonies all over the world.
The Spanish silver dollar created a global silver standard from the 16th to 19th centuries. The silver standard [a] is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians c. 3000 BC until 1873.
Argentium sterling silver (copper, germanium) Billon; Britannia silver ; Doré bullion ; Dymalloy (copper, metal matrix composite with diamond) Electrum ; Goloid (copper, gold) Platinum sterling ; Shibuichi ; Sterling silver ; Tibetan silver