Sterling silver is an alloy composed by weight of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925.
Fine silver, which is 99.9% pure silver, is relatively soft, so silver is usually alloyed with copper to increase its hardness and strength. Sterling silver is prone to tarnishing, and elements other than copper can be used in alloys to reduce tarnishing, as well as casting porosity and firescale. Such elements include germanium, zinc, platinum, silicon, and boron. Recent examples of these alloys include argentium, sterlium and silvadium.
Etymology
One of the earliest attestations of the term is in Old French form , in a charter of the abbey of Les Préaux, dating to either 1085 or 1104. The English chronicler Orderic Vitalis (1075 – 1142) uses the Latin forms and . The word in origin refers to the newly introduced Norman silver penny.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the most plausible etymology is a derivation from a late Old English (with, or like, a 'little star'), as some early Norman pennies were imprinted with a small star.
Another argument is that the Hanseatic League was the source for both the origin of its definition and manufacture, and in its name is that the German name for the Baltic is , or 'East Sea', and from this the Baltic merchants were called "Osterlings", or "Easterlings". In 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. Because the League's money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, which was contracted to sterling.
Their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, was called Easterlings Hall, or . The Hanseatic League was officially active in the London trade from 1266 to 1597. This etymology may have been first suggested by Walter de Pinchebek () with the explanation that the coin was originally made by moneyers from that region.
The claim has been made in Henry Spelman's glossary () as referenced in Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blackstone. Yet another claim on this same hypothesis is from William Camden, as quoted in Chamber's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, Volume 4. By 1854, the tie between Easterling and Sterling was well-established, as Ronald Zupko quotes in his dictionary of weights.
The British numismatist Philip Grierson disagrees with the "star" etymology, as the stars appeared on Norman pennies only for the single three-year issue from 1077 to 1080 (the Normans changed coin designs every three years). Grierson's proposed alternative is that sterling derives from ster meaning 'strong' or 'stout', by analogy with the Byzantine solidus, originally known as the meaning 'solid gold' or 'reliable gold'. In support of this he cites the fact that one of the first acts of the Normans was to restore the coinage to the consistent weight and purity it had in the days of Offa, King of Mercia. This would have been perceived as a contrast to the progressive debasement of the intervening 200 years, and would therefore be a likely source for a nickname.
S.E. Rigold disputes the origin being Norman, stating, "that, while medieval British coins seldom copy or are copied by those of France, they have many typological connexions with the lands to the east—the Netherlands, the Baltic, Germany, and even deeper regions of central Europe."
History
The sterling alloy originated in continental Europe and was being used for commerce as early as the 12th century in the area that is now northern Germany.
A piece of sterling silver dating from Henry II's reign was used as a standard in the Trial of the Pyx until it was deposited at the Royal Mint in 1843. It bears the royal stamp ENRI. REX ("King Henry") but this was added later, in the reign of Henry III. The first legal definition of sterling silver appeared in 1275, when a statute of Edward I specified that 12 troy ounces of silver for coinage should contain 11 ounces pennyweights of silver and pennyweights of alloy, with 20 pennyweights to the troy ounce. This is (not precisely) equivalent to a millesimal fineness of 926.