Eternity is a concept of forever, whereby everything lasts infinitely and nothing else dies or stops or perishes or ends. Usually an eternity band—a piece of jewelry symbolizing an eternal connection or bond — is given to a recipient within a relationship by the person who wants that connection never to end. They see their love as eternal, their relationship as permanent and their souls forever linked.
Eternity bands can have many different styles and appearances according to the designer and the materials used. Some can be made from gold or platinum but one of the most common materials is sterling silver. Eternity bands are sometimes thicker than regular rings and they can have a pattern that goes around the entire circumference of the ring in an eternal pattern. It is also popular for eternity rings to have diamond inserts. This concept was invented by De Beers diamond sellers in the 1960’s as a way of marketing their own diamonds to a new generation and a new market of buyers. This countered the existing fashion of the 1960’s as a single set diamond engagement ring that most people were buying at the time. The idea behind De Beers was to promote tiny diamonds instead of the huge knuckle dusters that people were used to buying. It also brought ‘cheap’ diamonds to a mass market and made them accessible to millions more, including Mr. and Mrs. Average-income. It brought a new romantic option for Valentine’s Day and for couples to have the perfect gift to show their everlasting love.
Alloys and Percentages
Sterling silver is one of the most popular jewelry metals in the world. Its price fluctuates and while it is rarely as expensive as gold it is one of the most expensive precious metal on the stock market. Sterling silver is actually a 95%-5% alloy, with silver as the larger chunk. The 5% is made up of other metals including copper and when sterling silver items are hallmarked after completion they are stamped with an acceptable fineness number. This is because the minimum allowed alloy in sterling silver is 5% and for fine silver it is 1%. Many countries use hallmarks to determine how good a piece of silver is.
