SILVER

If gold was the metal of royalty in historical times, silver did not noticed and unappreciated. Granted, silver tarnishes and will corrode, but it is still a precious metal. The ancients knew and valued silver as long ago as four thousand years before Christ. For a time, according to historians, it was even more precious than gold.

The Greeks used silver for jewelry and to make battle shields, while the Romans were among the first to use it for money. The Scottish highlanders were particularly fond of silver. During the times of the clan wars and the wars with England, no Scot went into battle without a silver ornament.

The ornament was usually a brooch or pin, often set with stones or gems, and was used to fasten the plaid or shawl that was a part of their native dress. It was also a good luck charm, but if the Scot had the bad luck to be killed, the silver ornament was insurance that the warrior would have a decent burial, with the person burying the body expected to do so in exchange for the ornament.

Pure silver, like pure gold, is 99.99 percent or .999 silver. Like gold, too, it 1s too soft in itself to be worked unless it is alloyed with another metal, usually copper. Unlike gold, it does not require as much of a base metal to be worked. Again, unlike gold, silver standards are worldwide. In addition, in the United States, Great Britain and the Commonwealth, and other countries, both the quality of the silver and the hallmark (or trademark or name) of the manufacturer must appear on the item.