Precious Metal Availability
Each style can be ordered in any of the following precious metals:
- Argentum (5% platinum, 92.5% fine silver)
Argentum offers the following benefits versus Traditional Sterling Silver:
Rich, deep white sheen with an excellent surface finish.
Outstanding tarnish resistance - no plating required.
Significantly increased hardness.
Greater weight density, thus creating a product with more heft (2.9% heavier).
The cachet of owning jewelry in a specialty precious metal with many "platinum-like" qualities.
The following metallurgical tests were performed on our Argentum:
Tarnish Resistance
Tarnish tests were performed on our Argentum at an East Coast metallurgical lab. The "tarnish rate" is plotted on a scale of 1 to 5 ... with 1 being best and 5 being worst.
Argentum ..... 2.5 Traditional Sterling Silver ..... 5.0 Hardness
Hardness tests were performed on our Argentumon a Rockwell R-15T, and Vickers tests were performed at an East Coast metallurgical lab. The higher the number, the harder the metal.
Argentum Traditional Sterling Silver Rockwell ..... 63 Rockwell ..... 58 - 59 Vickers ....... 76 Vickers .............. 75 - 14K Gold (yellow, white, red)
- 18K Gold (yellow, white, red)
- Platinum
- Some styles come in multiple parts. This makes two-tone and multi-metal combinations a nice option.
Some commonly ordered pairings are as follows:
- Argentum & 18KT yellow gold
- 14KT or 18KT yellow gold with white golds, or vice versa
- 14KT or 18KT white gold with red golds, or vice versa
- 18KT yellow gold with platinum or vice versa
- Tri-color gold combination of yellow, red, and white
- Use your imagination!
Standard Jewelry Weights
On any particular style, the approximate precious metal weight of the finished piece, prior to engraving, is expressed in grams next to the indicated precious metal. Gold weights are based upon all yellow gold parts.
Standard ring weights are based upon the stock size of the particular style, generally size 11 for men and 7½ for women.