Silver–A good lower priced option?
With the upswing in gold prices, silver has definitely become the “thing” even at jewelry store that swore they would never sell silver. There are advantages and disadvantages to manufacturing and buying jewelry in silver.
The obvious advantage to silver is price. Silver is about 1/3 of the price of gold–assuming the same exact piece. Because silver costs less, manufacturers can make jewelry heavier which means jewelry is more substantial. It allows for rings to be solid instead of hollowing out the shank to reduce metal cost for example. 
Another advantage is that silver is a white metal. The trend right now is white metal but white gold, isn’t actually white and platinum is prohibitively expensive. Silver does not have to be plated like white gold does to be white.
The major disadvantage to silver is that silver tarnishes. Tarnishing make the metal look dull and dark–not how you want your jewelry to look. If you wear a piece of silver jewelry everyday it will usually reduce how much it tarnishes but if you let it sit in a jewelry box without proper protection, silver will tarnish. 
Silver can be plated with the same metal used to plate white gold which can reduce or stop tarnishing but this adds to the cost of the piece.
The other disadvantage is that silver is very soft. This means that it gets scratched and dinged faster than other metals. For pendants or earrings this isn’t really a problem but silver rings run the risk of damage more so than rings made of other metals. The soft nature of silver can also cause problems when setting stones. It is harder to secure a stone in silver than in other metals. Again, for pendants or earrings where they do not get hit very often, the likely hood of losing a stone is small, but it could be an issue with a ring. 
The safest way to set a stone in silver is a bezel where the metal goes all the way around the stone.
The pictures along the side are of silver rings that I have made. The top picture is a silver ring that is freshly polished. The second is a ring that has been sitting for awhile and is severely tarnished. The third is a silver ring that I wear everyday and you can see the dings and scratches in the surface of the metal.
I like silver as a metal, but you have to know how to care for it to keep your jewelry looking nice. If you are storing silver jewelry, keep it away from rubber which can increase tarnishing and store in plastic bags to reduce air exposure which is what actually causes the tarnishing. You can buy jewelry boxes, bag, and even little pieces of paper that are supposed to help with tarnishing. When you wear silver jewelry just be aware of the fragility of the surface of your piece and try to avoid knocking your jewelry against anything.
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