It's standard practice to alloy pure silver with harder metals to improve its strength. Pandora jewellery regularly uses sterling silver: the world’s most popular silver alloy.

To be classed as sterling silver, the alloy must contain at least 92.5% pure silver, whereas the remaining 7.5% can be made up of other metals – most commonly copper.

Sterling silver is ideal for jewellery use as it preserves the colour, lustre and mass of pure silver while significantly improving the metal’s durability, making it more resistant to wear and tear, meaning your favourite pieces last longer.

An oxidised finish is frequently used on sterling silver to highlight detail. The oxidation process imitates the natural tarnishing process, which happens to all silver over time and leaves the sterling silver with a darker finish.

All authentic Pandora jewellery displays a number of hallmarks that identify the purity of the metal and the origin of the jewellery.