FYI:
THESE ITEM ARE NOT SILVER AND CONTAIN NO SILVER AT ALL!!!!
Alpaca silver aka Nickel Silver is a common name for a metal alloy, a
combination of metals; of copper, nickel and zinc, occasionally other
metals such as tin, lead or cadmium.
The alloy also can be called, new
silver and paktong. It is used in a variety of manufactured commercial
products, as well as in technical industries, also known as Argentan,
new silver nickel brass, albata, or alpacca, is a copper alloy with
nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel
and 20% zinc.
It resembles silver but instead of the soft white color it has a
yellow-grey tinge. Nickel silver contains no elemental silver unless
plated. Because of its visual similarity to sterling silver,
Alpaca silver is frequently used in jewelry as a less expensive
alternative to true silver. Its stainless finish makes the jewelry easy
to clean, requiring only lemon juice or a
mild soap to remove any marks
or tarnishing.
Alpaca silver is popular with South American jewelry companies and is used to create beautiful, traditional and modern pieces