How to tell real silver from everything else
Four tests you can do in a shop, in under a minute, without any equipment.
The magnet test is the fastest. Sterling silver is not magnetic. If the metal element on a cord bracelet jumps to a fridge magnet, it has a steel or nickel core and whatever is on the outside is a coating.
The mark is the second. Look for 925, sometimes written as .925 or STER. On our bracelets it is struck into the silver element itself. An unmarked piece is not necessarily fake, but a piece marked 925 that fails the other tests certainly is.
Weight is the third and the one people misread on cord bracelets. Because the cord weighs almost nothing, the silver should feel surprisingly dense for its size — that contrast is the tell. A plated zinc element of the same dimensions feels hollow, and you can learn the difference in about three pieces.
The last is patina. Real silver tarnishes. If an element has been worn daily for a year and still looks factory-bright with no darkening in the recesses at all, it is almost certainly rhodium-plated — which is not a crime, but it is not solid silver either.
Published 28 June 2026