92.5 sterling silver is an alloy of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper, which makes it harder than pure silver. Rajkot has a large silver jewellery trade alongside its imitation jewellery workshops, so many buyers source both from the same city.
Sterling is real precious-metal jewellery. It is priced, classified and often regulated differently from imitation jewellery, and that changes how you buy and import it.
What Rajkot makes in silver
Silver chains, anklets (payal), toe rings, bangles, rings and oxidised traditional designs are long-standing Rajkot products, and many workshops also make Western-style sterling pieces. Some imitation jewellery makers also work in silver, while others specialise.
Sterling pieces are often rhodium plated to stop tarnish and give a whiter colour, or gold plated to make vermeil-style pieces.
How sterling differs from imitation jewellery
- Price: sterling is priced on silver weight plus making charges, so it moves with the silver price.
- Customs: precious-metal jewellery falls under HS heading 7113, while imitation jewellery falls under 7117. Duty rates and paperwork can differ.
- Marking: many markets have hallmarking or fineness-marking rules for silver.
- Tarnish: sterling darkens over time unless plated or coated, but it can be cleaned and polished.
How to check you are getting sterling
- Ask for a purity certificate or a hallmark, and check the current BIS rules for silver hallmarking in India.
- Test samples by XRF, which shows the silver content quickly.
- For larger orders, send a sample to a lab for an assay.
- Record the weight of each design, since a lighter piece usually means less silver.
Importing sterling into your market
Check the hallmarking rules where you sell before you order. In the UK, for example, silver articles above 7.78 grams must carry a UK-recognised hallmark, which usually means an assay office marks the goods on arrival. Other markets have their own rules on describing silver as sterling or 925.
What this means for a buyer
Treat sterling as a separate product line with its own pricing, testing and import rules. The guide to imitation, fashion and artificial jewellery explains where the boundaries sit.
Creston & Co works for buyers only, for a fixed fee agreed in writing. We check purity and finish on samples in Rajkot, arrange lab tests at NABL-accredited labs and supervise packing. Start with a free sourcing review.