The Street of Incomparable Pearl

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This week, Lavaculture visited Chandni Chowk's famous silver street, Dariba Kalan. Dariba Kalan translates to "street of incomparable pearl". During the Mughal period this street was the central jewelry market and was most famous for its precious gems. Today, Dariba Kalan is most popular for its silver jewelry. Lavaculture had the opportunity to interview one of the nearby shop owners who shared a little something about the silver industry. Here are some of the most important tips that Lavaculture learned about purchasing silver, as relayed by Mr. Shiv Kumar Mittal, owner of the jewelry store, Mittal Associates. Not only that, but in Mr. Mittal we have also found a reliable contact for future ventures.

The first thing we learned was that India
imports silver from different parts of the world. It was quite astonishing to discover that India's main suppliers of raw silver are the United States, Mexico, and China. It is then processed and refined in India, but at a much cheaper rates.  Lavaculture also learned about the cost of silver. Mr. Mittal began the conversation with a one kilogram piece of raw silver in his hand. It was beautiful, heavy, and pricey. The cost of this chunk of silver was over $1600 US, but of course, normally, one doesn't buy silver in kilograms.
 
The average consumer purchases silver in grams. If you enter any Indian jewelry store you usually choose your item, have it weighed on a scale, and then multiply that weight by the current silver rate. 72rs, or $1.60 is the current price per gram for the highest quality of silver available. One can of course find slightly cheaper rates.

But, how does one know if it is real silver? If the silver is pure? Mr. Mittal shared with us a few ways to understand this, although it can get quite complicated. The first two ways of understanding if silver is pure is by running several tests such as a volumetric test, or a gravity test. If you are interested in learning more about these processes you can click on the following site which explains the details more clearly:
www.sellgoldhq.com

If you are shopping for silver jewelry as a regular retail customer, there are a few simple ways to test if it is real silver. Firstly, if you are looking at raw silver, its' texture usually has streaks and pores and is very heavy. If you are not necessarily looking at raw silver,  you can tell if it is real, if it is substantially heavy, and compact. If it is too light and flimsy, it might not be real.
Another way to tell is by hearing how it rings when you hit it. If it has a clear high-pitched sound that lasts, it is real silver. Otherwise it can be an alloy of various metals or silver-plated metallic material.
We hope you have enjoyed our little adventure and a brief introduction into the world of silver. Join us next time for yet another adventure to a silver jewelry store.