We have a vast collection of images here which have been shared over the years ...
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Comments
It's never entirely my favourite kind of piece, but I think this is a very good example.
these look good being worn. this one is of not pure silver and is silver and another alloy. Some I have published had finer silver and were older. This is a good wearible and also reasonably priced for some one who likes alot of look for the money.
On the photo it looks rather tarnished, with the yellow indicating the presence of quite a bit of copper within the silver alloy. Could that be the case? Maybe that provides a look of more age for it than it does have?? That's where a photo is often hard to read if you don't know the piece.
It also needs polishing however it is as old as the other ones I had it's just that not eveyone had enough money to have pure silver content as other people.
You said previously that some "had finer silver and were older". I think it is the first issue that is the problem rather than the second, and the more so as you now think "it is as old as the other ones". It would probably polish up quite well, but if the proportion of copper (or copper plus another base metal) is higher in this case than with your best ones, then obviously the silvery look will not last as long as with the best. I take it that the best would probably be about 80-85% silver - the usual "coin" quality most frequently employed - which would behave, in practice, not very differently from sterling even though that contains 92%. If this were, say, 60% it would still be good enough for quite a good piece, but, while silver per se tarnishes in any case, the base metal would hasten the tarnishing and also be less attractive in the way it tarnishes. The yellowish appearance suggests a fair bit of copper to me (the most frequent base metal used), with perhaps one other component. You are right, of course, that different alloys were used for different purses. Unalloyed material is rare as it is too soft: usually at least 5% needed to be added for anything to be used.
I note that the small discs, particularly, are more yellowish than the ball-like pieces. Could it be that two different alloys were used by whoever made this? That would not be uncommon.