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Originally Posted by Sueki Hello Knotty,
Thanks for asking this.
Hello Gail,
What do you think about silver beads ?
I've got some rather nice Tahitians, and fancy silver for a change.
Or white gold, but the highest carat white gold I can find is 14 carat. |
I can only give you my opinion. As a goldsmith, I have experience working with metal but I am not an expert as far as the chemical alloys of metal. Having said that....the only silver bead I might use is one made of "fine" silver because it is soft. It could oxidize, though. Sterling silver in my opinion, is too hard and there are "other" metals alloyed in the sterling that I would not trust against high quality pearls.
I do not have experience with 14k gold but....I consider it to be a hard metal and I personally would not use it. Especially the white 14k gold, you never know what other metals they've alloyed in it (it could even be dipped).
Again, this is just my opinion. If you have inexpensive pearls and just want a pretty necklace.....all this really doesn't matter!
Gail