I did a little experiment a couple of days ago in my own facebook https://www.facebook.com/NiciArt/ and a metalsmithing group I belong to that is also in facebook .
My posting there asked the question ” which is which ? ” What guitar pick is made of sterling and what is the aluminum . Just by looking at a picture . When I did the math about 76% percent picked the wrong metal – by the way the left guitar pick is aluminum the right is sterling .
Now why do this experiment at all and what did I want to gather with it ? My point was that when you buy online not everything you see that is silver is in fact sterling silver . If the price is too good to be true it most likely is . I have seen websites offer sterling silver rings and other jewelry for the fraction of what it would cost someone to buy from me or any other metalsmith .
When you shop online you cannot feel and smell the metal – aluminum feels very different from sterling as does steel or some other silver looking metals .
Even looking at the little stamp 925 ( mostly inside the jewelry or on the back ) does not guarantee that what you get is in fact the real deal .
So when buying online be careful out there . Again – if the price is too good to be true – it might very well be …. 🙂