One of the most simple and elegant pieces of jewellery is the silver necklace, a gleaming strand of silver that rests around the neck. For women, the thinner the strand, the better – this is not an article of jewellery that “tries too hard” and aims to grab people’s attention by being showy and flashy; it is more about subtlety and simple beauty, two elements that have been largely lost in jewellery over the last few years, but are starting to make a comeback. No wonder, then, that these necklaces are starting to come back in fashion.
There remains, of course, the problem of differentiation – how does a young lady make her silver necklace different from every other silver necklace out there? Where does one find uniqueness? The answer, it would seem, is in ornamentation – again, the challenge is not to add something flashy or excessive that will clash with the necklace, but more to find something simple that will serve to complement the necklace, rather than detract from it.
The obvious solution that suggests itself is the silver pendant necklace. Timeless designs, such as the classic silver necklace, are best accompanied by other timeless designs – the best pendants are sometimes the most classic. For example, there is the silver picture-frame locket, a silver oval with intricately detailed metalwork engraving, and the capacity to hold a small photo inside. And then there is, of course, the silver heart pendant, another classic that no young lady would be without.
And for those who feel that they want to experiment, there are plenty of ways to do that as well. Pendants come in an infinite number of designs that cater to the tastes of absolutely everyone – and if you cannot find find one that works for you, then perhaps a custom pendant is needed. Creating bespoke custom silver pendants is not as expensive as one would think, due to the relative availability of silver, compared to other materials such as gold or rhodium. In addition to this, sterling silver is a very easy material to craft, so almost all jewellers will perform such services. The most popular custom pendants are the names of the customer, of course.
Other popular custom designs are the signs of the zodiac. Custom designs can also be quite complex as well – one particularly popular idea is to take the skeletal remains of an aquatic creature, such as a seahorse, and have the jeweller craft a silver cast. The resulting pendant, once hardened, will be a perfect miniature silver seahorse that adds a fantastically unique touch to any silver necklace.
Clearly, then, there are no shortage of pendants that can be fashioned out of silver jewellery. The next thing to look at is the quality of the silver. We recommend that you speak to your jewellers and ensure that the piece is made of sterling silver, or 925 silver, which is so named because it is 92.5% silver by fineness, with the remaining 7.5% being an alloy of other metals mixed in to strengthen the silver, allowing it to be made into jewellery. Some jewellers offer the option of 99.99% pure silver, but it is almost almost more expensive, and is never a good choice because very pure silver is quite soft, and can deform and become misshapen by the stresses of everyday wear. Sterling silver pendants are the best kind of pendant because they are not vulnerable to becoming deformed in such a matter.