Yen Desirables sources items made from jewellery grade metals. Pewter and metal allows are used.
Will the silver, pewter and brass products tarnish?
Tarnish is a thin layer of corrosion that forms over pewter, copper, brass, silver, aluminium and other similar metals as their outermost layer undergoes a chemical reaction. Tarnish does not always result from the sole effects of oxygen in the air.
How do to keep the metal items looking their best?
o Wear or use your items often.
o It is preferable not to store the pieces with other sharp objects as it may cause them to become marked or scratched.
o To maintain the original condition of your silver or brass jewellery, polish your pieces regularly using a non-abrasive cleaning cloth made for such a purpose.
o Pewter products may be cleaned with a non-abrasive cleaning cloth and using a Pewter Polishing Paste supplied by a reputable jewellery supplier. Do not use products used to clean Brass or Silver and do not place any items in a Dishwasher.
What is Pewter?
Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85 – 99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and sometimes, less commonly today, lead. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C, depending on the exact mixture of metals. The word pewter is probably a variation of the word spelter, a term for zinc alloys (originally a colloquial name for zinc).
What are the alloys used?
Alloys are a mixture of metals. They are electroplated 15 to 30 micron.
· Silver
o Sterling silver is generally used for jewellery, and that is what most people think of when they see silver.
o Silver also comes in various quality grades, measured by 1/1000 parts per gram.
o There are impurities that naturally occur in silver at the molecular level. These impurities consist of other metals - usually copper, but traces of other metals can also be found.
o These trace impurities are insignificant, and would be too costly to remove - so .999 silver is considered pure.
o As with gold, silver in its fine state is a non - reactive metal - allergies are possible but very rare.
o People who have problems wearing silver jewellery are usually allergic to the copper in the alloyed metal, not the silver.
· Brass
o Brass is the generic term for a range of copper-zinc alloys with differing combinations of properties, including strength, machinability, ductility, wear-resistance, hardness, colour, antimicrobial, electrical and thermal conductivity, and corrosion-resistance.
o Brasses set the standard by which the machinability of other materials is judged and are also available in a very wide variety of product forms and sizes to allow minimum machining to finished dimensions. Brass does not become brittle at low temperatures like mild steel.
· Colours of Brass
o Brasses have a range of attractive colours ranging from red to yellow to gold to silver. With the addition of 1% manganese, brass will weather to a chocolate brown colour. Nickel silvers will polish to a brilliant silver colour. At Yen Desirables we refer to them as bright brass and matt brass.
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