Silver Jewelry

Silver Jewelry, along with gold jewelry, is quite popular amongst Indian women. Ornaments made of silver, such as rings, bracelets, chains, necklaces, nose rings, earrings, toe rings, heavy kadas, and armlets, form integral part of Indian jewelry.Silver jewelry, along with gold jewelry, is quite popular amongst Indian women. Ornaments made of silver, such as rings, bracelets, chains, necklaces, nose rings, earrings, toe rings, heavy kadas, and armlets, form integral part of Indian jewelry. Whereas gold jewelry has been the most popular among Indian women since ages, silver jewelry is not far behind in popularity. Apart from cities, it finds solace in the rural areas and tribal areas of the country as well. In fact, silver jewelry forms an integral part of the attire and dress of tribal people.

Women in rural areas and tribal areas wear heavy silver jewelry. These heavy jewelries are meant for financial security during contingency, apart from being a source of adornment. The practice of making new jewelry by melting old silver jewelry is still practiced in major parts of India, but recently this trend has been reversed. Old silver jewelry is in demand and fashion now. Oxidized silver jewelry with traditional designs that gives old and rough look, is quite popular these days.

Silver jewelry studded with gold, precious and semi-precious stones is quite popular, particularly in southern parts of India. The USP of these ornaments is that they are light weight and of reasonable cost. The versatility can be observed in silver jewelry, as different states have indigenous influence over its design. The pattern and precision differ according to region and likes-dislikes of people. Many times, one can determine the marital status of women as well as her community by the jewelry she wears.

Silver jewelry made at Kolhapur (Maharashtra), Hathras (UP), Salem (Tamil Nadu), and Rajkot (Gujarat) is of traditional design and of light weight. The traditional motifs and designs are adorned with precious and semi-precious stones. Such jewelry is quite popular all across the world, with large quantities being exported. Youngsters in cities can also be seen adorning themselves with silver jewelry, mainly owing to its wide variety and economical prices, as compared to gold and other jewelry.

History of Silver Jewelry : Jewelry has been an integral part of ornamentation for human beings since ages though it has become more centered on women nowadays. Starting from bones in the ancient times, human beings moved on to making dazzling jewelry from gold, silver, and diamond. Silver has always been an important metal used for creating jewelry pieces in all the ages due to its easy affordability by the people of all the income groups.

For thousands of years, silver has been widely used for making ornaments, utensils and even used as basis for monetary systems. It’s recognized as a precious metal along with gold. The usage of the metal since the olden times is evident from the fact that the word "silver" is used in Anglo-Saxon literature as  siolfor and seolfor . In Germanic languages also, the metal silver is referred to as silbir and silabar. The symbol Ag which is used for silver is taken from Latin language. The root for the word lies in Indo-European languages in which ‘arg’ refers to shining and white objects.The usage of silver was so prevalent in olden times that it is also mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Heaps of Slag found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea give enough proof of the fact that the process of separation and extraction of silver from lead was done even in 4th millennium BC.  Sardinia in early Chalcolithic age is believed to be one of the oldest silver extraction centers in Europe.The Roman currency was dependent on the supply of silver bullion to a large extent for maintaining its stability. Roman miners are believed to have produced silver on a large scale before the New World came into existence. More than 10,000 t of silver stock was owned by the Roman economy in the middle of the second century AD and this amount was astonishingly five to ten times higher than the total amount of silver available in  medieval Europe and the Caliphate in 800 AD. Financial experts of the Roman Empire remained worrisome due to the loss of silver suffered due to the high payment required to procure silk from Sinica city of China.

High Demand for Silver Jewelry in 21st century : In the 21st century, new and highly advanced technologies have contributed immensely to the massive rise in the production of silver on a worldwide scale. Some of the technologies which chiefly contributed in increasing the silver production include mining; steam assisted drilling, dewatering, and improved haulage system. Apart from this, advancement in mining techniques helped in easy separation of silver from other ores. It also simplified the process of handling larger volumes of ores containing silver.

These methods helped extensively in increasing the volume of silver production. However, the production increased to such an extent that many high-grade ores have already been depleted all over the world.Nowadays, silver jewelry has got a lot of popularity due to the availability of a wide variety of designs in it. It is also used as a base metal for studding ornaments with various other precious and semi- precious gemstones.ue to its easy availability as well as affordability, it is adorned by people of all classes. In astrological sense, silver is considered as a cool metal which is recommended by astrologers for maintaining mental peace and controlling one’s emotions. It is advised to be worn alone in ring form or used as a base metal for rings of other gemstones.

Some of the popular silver jewelry worn by women all over the world includes earrings, rings, toe rings, nose pins, silver necklaces and many more. Whether from a scientific, traditional or astrological point of view, the charm of silver has always proved its significant place in the jewelry of the world and has gained love from women adorning themselves with it.