999 silver in Mexico

Mexico is the world's largest producer of silver ore and a leading producer of silver jewelry.

This is why many wholesalers and suppliers of silver jewelry are in Mexico.

Silver metal is extracted as ores mixed with other rocks and ores and must be separated and refined in order to produce pure silver or 999 silver bullion.

This silver is then used for the manufacture of jewelry, to do this, it must be alloyed with other metals (usually copper) to obtain silver jewelry having a better mechanical resistance.

Example of 925 silver jewelry made in Mexico

Sterling silver, also known as 925 silver (935/1000) and 950 silver (950/1000), are the most commonly used for making silver jewelry in Mexico.

Peru is particularly known for its silver jewelry making largely made of 950 silver.

Examples of 950 silver jewelry from Peru

Index

1. 999 silver ounce
2. Obtaining 925 silver
3. Manufacture of Mexican silver jewelry

Pure silver ounce of Mexican jewelers

While the term silver bullion is commonly used to refer to one-kilo 999 silver bars, usually used by bankers and investors in precious metals, Mexican jewelers talk about ounces of silver.

It's indeed in the form of a coin of one ounce of silver 999 (31.1 grams) that the Mexican state produces, that Mexican jewelers and our jewelry workshop provide themselves silver to make Mexican jewelry.

Be careful not to confuse the troy ounce used to measure the weight of precious metals is about 31.1 grams and another type of ounce (there are several), whose weight varies between 24 and 33 grams.

View of a 999 silver ounce with the Mexican flag

Pure silver is freely available in many stores in Mexico (like the Elektra chain or banks), sold in the global market. It's therefore the Mexican state that guarantees the silver quality produced in the country and supplies jewelry artisans.

The silver price is determined on the stock market, and although it's a precious metal, silver is not that expensive. Indeed, there is nothing comparable between the price of an ounce of gold which is around $ 1400 in May 2013 and that of silver which is $ 22 over the same period.

Graph showing the evolution of the silver price (in euros per kilogram) over the last 20 years (source)

Individuals can afford to buy silver jewelry, knowing that they weigh on average between 7g and 30g for 90% of jewelry found on the market.

However, the silver price has been marked by large price changes since the 2008 crisis, and the pure silver price has been multiplied by 4 at times, directly affecting the cost of silver jewelry produced in Mexico.

To learn more about the silver price, visit this website presenting the price in real time.

Silver recycling

For information, specify that pure silver (999 silver) can also be obtained by recycling money 925 or 800.

Obtaining 925 silver

If silver is to be purified to produce the raw material of jewelers, it is then alloyed with copper to create 925 and 950 silver securities commonly used in jewelry.

The mixture of pure silver and copper is made by melting the two metals in the appropriate proportions of mass.

The purer 950 silver gives a whiter glow to the jewel, but it's also used in cases where it'd be too complicated to craft a 925 silver jewelry design.

Indeed, silver 950 is more malleable and therefore allows a simpler work of metal to make some jewelry. However, these will remain more fragile than silver 925 jewels because of weaker mechanical properties.

We also invite you to discover this video (fr) presenting the artisanal production of a 925 silver ingot :

Merging 925 silver for the manufacture of a silver ingot

The process of obtaining a pure silver ingot is identical to that shown in video, it's only necessary to replace the pieces of silver 925 which are melted by silver 999.

Silver jewelry manufacture

If you want to buy silver jewelry in Mexico, you'll certainly be interested in knowing how they're made.

First of all, you can consult our various articles reporting on making our own silver jewelry on our blog.

Here is a brief overview of realizations of silver jewelry made through our custom made jewelry service :

Examples of silver jewelry made in our Mexican jewelry workshop

For more information:

• Design jewelry online
• Mexican silver and turquoise jewelry
• Hallmark in sterling silver jewelry
• Soldering sterling silver
• How to test silver