"Tarnish Resistant" Silver Rings

[perry]

Ok folks. I''ve always been a sucker (if you will) for silver. I like silver over white gold and platinum. Rhodium plating is cool, but it wears off. Silver has always been it for me.

Of course, silver has always had a "tarnish" problem. It is not that silver actually tranishes. It is the copper that is added to the silver to make it hard enough to work with that tarnishes.

So I started thinking. If a few % of chrome can keep iron from rusting (and make stainless steel), then why can''t someone create a silver alloy that does not tarnish.

It turns out that it has already been done.

To boot - because "stirling" silver has been legally defined as 92.5% silver - they are able to claim and stamp it as Stirling Silver even though the remaining 7.5% is not copper (the original formulation for Stirling Silver) - and who cares if the remaining 7.5% is not all copper (or any copper at that).

Here is one website selling the stuff...

www.unitedpmr.com/new_age_sterling_silver.htm

There was also a major English company selling a tarnish free stirling alloy (although I forgot to save the page).

I did find a web site selling jewelry made from these alloys, and a jewlery making forum discussing how these alloys made better looking jewlery than the original stirling silver.

Now I am aware that sulfer would still react with the silver if you allowed sulfer containg things to contact the silver, but it appears that most of the normal tarnish problems are gone...

So, has anyone here tried working with these alloys; and what is the chance of getting a great looking silver diamond ring...

Perry