Jewelry Tips: A warning–some silver isn’t silver at all. “Nickel silver” (also known as German silver or alpaca silver, along with a few other trade names) is any alloy of copper with nickel or zinc, and sometimes antimony, tin, lead or cadmium. It is silver tone, not silver alloy, and was a low-priced silver substitute in the 19th Century, mostly as a base layer for silver-plating. Because some of these metals are toxic, its use is now heavily restricted. In the US, the principal use of nickel silver is the nickel (5-cent coins are 750/250 copper/nickel). By law, these alloys cannot be marketed in the US as silver.

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Jewelry Tips: All the sparkling gold and diamond jewelry on the market takes its toll, both on the environment and the people who work in the mines. Do your part by supporting ethical jewelers who use recycled precious metals, responsibly mined gemstones and some of the other materials listed below.

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Jewelry Tips: Another white metal, platinum, has a short history in jewelry. Brought to Europe by the Spanish Conquistadors, its chemical properties made it difficult to work until the 19th Century, when it began to be used in jewelry. Platinum only gained recognition as a monetary metal in the 1980s, but has become as popular among collectors and investors as it is among prospective grooms.

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