Is sterling silver appropriate for a wedding ring?
Asked by
eadinad (
1278
)
October 5th, 2010
My partner and I are ring shopping. I’m concerned about nickel allergies, so I’m leaning away from traditional white gold. My two options are palladium white gold, or sterling silver.
It seems like many of the designs we like (more alternative, creative, organic, etc) are made with sterling silver, and the price is nice too. Will sterling silver hold up over a lifetime? I’m okay with wear and tear, but I don’t want it to break, wear away to nothing, etc. I’ll probably have a very thin band, too (2 mm). Has anyone had a sterling silver wedding or engagement ring?
Thanks.
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19 Answers
Sure – I found this, which might be helpful:
Sterling Silver Patina
Sterling silver jewelry that is worn continually often develops a lovely patina, a kind of glow combined with darkened areas. If you like the look, leave it alone. If you prefer a bright and shiny look for your sterling silver, use a polish cloth to restore the jewelry to its original appearance.
Silver is lovely but will tarnish and, thus, needs to be polished regularly. The smell of silver polish makes me nervous.
Silver jewelry has nickel in it.You could always choose not to wear a wedding band at all.I never do .
I don’t have a sterling silver engagement or wedding ring, but I do have a lot of sterling silver rings. They have all held up really well over the years.
@iamthemob, @gailcalled – I actually love the look of tarnished/patina’d metal, so I doubt I’d be polishing it, unless polishing helps keep the ring from deteriorating.
@sakura – we may use titanium for a wedding band, but I have never seen a titanium engagement ring in the style I want (organic, delicate.)
Its not the ring or what its made of, it’s the finger, hand and heart that wears it, that makes the difference.
How exactly do you mean appropriate in your question?
I’d say you can wear anything from silver to gold to titanium to a cigar band to nothing… as long as your partner has a say in it.
But if you mean appropriate in that other people will be able to look at the ring on your finger and correctly identify it as a wedding band, then you probably should be somewhat discriminatory in your selection of ring. Plain, solid bands of any metal with minimal adornment are often easily recognized as wedding bands when worn on the left hand’s ring finger. Some jewel encrustation can work well, too. For the most part, stay away from overt symbology on the ring which might be interpreted by the observer as signifying whatever the symbol represents moreso than marriage fidelity.
@robmandu – I really mean in terms of durability. We like the look and price of sterling silver, and it will be worn on the appropriate finger, and look somewhat traditional, so I am not concerned about its recognition. I just want to make sure it will physically last for fifty years.
You might want to look into a sterling silver/platinum mix. Here is a link on how to maintain a sterling silver ring with a mention on the metal combination. It might be worth looking into since you are looking for a ring with a very thin band.
You could could with:
Platinum
Palladium
Titanium
Stainless steel
Surgical steel
Sterling silver tarnishes, has nickel in it and leaves dirty marks on your fingers.
Sterling silver turns my skin green. I have never liked anything sterling silver because of the way it looks and the way it reacts with my skin. But everyone’s skin is different.
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