Tibetan Silver on ebay

Hi,

In The Netherlands it is forbidden to call someting silver if it isn't at least 80% pure silver. How is that in various other countries? Is it allowed to sell "Tibetan Silver" if there is no silver in the product? I looked at ebay and found thousands of products that can impossible be silver.

Bartje

Reply to
bartje m
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Hey Bartje. "Tibetan Silver" has long been known to be pot metal silver. Not .935 pure (like sterling) or .99 pure (like Thai Silver). Basically, it looks silver and has some silver content, but is not.

Becki

Reply to
Beckibead

That much I understood, but is it legal? In The Netherlands it is not, if it says Tibetan Silver it should be at least 80%. I'm asking because we get loads of it at local websites now, and it is an inflation of the meaning of the word silver.

Reply to
bartje m

Thanks, I guessed as much. But is it legal? The use of the word silver implies something, doesn't it? I would guess it would mean silver from Tibet. It seems degrading to the meaning of the word silver.

By the way, sterling is .925, isn't it?

Bartje

Reply to
bartje m

It may not have any silver content if I believe the Ebay 'advisory' from Tierracast, and I have no reason to doubt it. It's silver colored, which is the phrase I tend to use for base metal of that color.

Agree, but different countries have different laws. I'd call it Tibetan 'silver'.

I thought so too, but that 1% doesn't make a whole lot of difference, it's almost all silver.

Maren HiloBeads

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Reply to
Maren at google

just nitpicking

Reply to
bartje m

In message , bartje m writes

Sterling silver is 925 or 92.5% pure. Britannia Silver is 950 or 95% pure

PMC is reputed to be 99.99% pure. Hugs Shirley

Reply to
Shirley Shone

yep .935 was a typo!!! (and I type for a living)

No idea if it is legal or not -- just "buyer beware" in terms of educating ourselves.

Just like old beads are often sold as vintage or antique, and in the furniture world, there are very specific limits for the use of those words to describe antiques. Yet we often see layman selling things at yard and sales and on the internet where the words are used indiscriminately. It is a matter of educating yourself and watching out for whether it is a true statement or not.

Some of the gems sold on ebay (especially in finished jewelry) are lab- created but not marked as such, especially from countries where English is not the primarly language, but they posted the auction in english. Sometimes descriptions are so funny, LOL. I used to repost the really good ones.

So, with Tibetan Silver -- buyer beware. Doesn't matter if it is legal or not -- it is still going to be described incorrectly sometimes. LOL

Becki

Reply to
Beckibead

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