Help with silver alloys

I'm buying some jewelry jars and seeing a lot of things that look like silver but are not stamped nor are they tarnished.

I realize that silver can be treated with palladium so it does not tarnish. Are there other silver alloys that contain silver that are used in jewelry?

 

There are a lot of silver colored metals that have no precious silver in them, alpaca is a much used one.

Is the jewelry old or new?

If you suspect silver you will need to test them to be sure even if marked. There is a lot of jewelry coming out of Asia that is marked silver that isn't. Plus I have had quite a bit of jewelry from Mexico that is wrongly marked.

 

You don't state where you live.Most commercially made sterling jewelry in the U.S. has been rhodium plated since the late 1970's,rhodium doesn't tarnish. Precious metal jewelry in the U.S. does not require a sterling/14K,etc. There is a lot of student/hobbyist jewelry with no marks.The pieces can only be tested for content to be sure.

 

Thanks. It's different ages. I have both an electronic tester and nitric acid kit. Still getting the hang of it.

 

I noticed a lot of the AVON and other name brands tested positive for gold but were not marked.

 

https://www.riogrande.com/product/argentium-silver-6-sheet-22-ga-dead-soft/103222