Understanding 925 Sterling Silver: What Does It Mean?

Question
i have a necklace that is marked with Italy  925  what does that mean?

Answer
Jack, what you have is a sterling silver necklace made in Italy. The numerical marks represent the parts per thousand of the precious metal in the jewelry metal mix. This is the proportion by weight of pure silver used to make the jewelry metal.

So, 925 is the same meaning as 92.5% or 0.925 fine silver. The remaining 75 or 7.5% is generally copper but not always.  What counts is the amount of the precious metal.  Both STERLING and 925 are legal marks for a silver alloy of 92.5% pure silver and the legal name is STERLING.

Numerical marks in gold also mean proportion of pure metal in the mix.  For instance, 18k is also marked 750 and is 75% pure gold in the mix.

God Bless and Peace.  Thomas.