| Silver has been known as a precious metal since | | | | intricate design with soldering holding the pieces |
| ancient times, when people in ancient Egypt used the | | | | together properly. These pieces often featured a |
| metal in jewelry and ceremonial ornamentation. The | | | | frame created out of stouter wire, which helped to |
| Egyptians were trading for silver and acquiring it as | | | | hold the piece together against the strains of wear. |
| tribute, possibly as far back as 5,000 BC. Tombs have | | | | This practice was common in many places throughout |
| been discovered as far back as 2,900 BC . | | | | Europe and the Middle East, but was not a common |
| The bright color and workable properties of silver have | | | | practice in Egypt. |
| surely contributed to the wide use of the metal, and | | | | Silver continued steadily as a popular metal from which |
| the rarity of it has placed it second only to gold in | | | | to create jewelry, even up to present day. The metal |
| terms of value since ancient times (although we now | | | | is mined all over the world, with silver rushes prevalent |
| have metals that we value more greatly than even | | | | throughout history wherever a new vein of the metal |
| gold.) Silver jewelry was worked with gemstones or | | | | was found. These rushes brought miners to locations |
| glass, and was often work in cultures like Greece or | | | | all over the western United States especially, with |
| Rome to ward off the "evil eye". Other cultures, such | | | | towns springing up over night and vanishing as soon as |
| as the Egyptians, wore the jewelry as ornamentation. It | | | | the mines ran dry. |
| was prominently included in burials as well as being | | | | Silver has been used often in conjunction with stones |
| worn for ceremonial purposes. | | | | in jewelry pieces, and is especially common in modern |
| Ancient silver jewelry was worked in several ways, | | | | Native American jewelry from tribes such as the |
| the most common being the hammering of the metal | | | | Navajo, who earn a great deal of their income in |
| into the correct form, or the casting and pouring of the | | | | making jewelry and other crafts for us to enjoy. |
| silver to create the jewelry. This made for somewhat | | | | Today, silver jewelry is so common that it is sold |
| crude jewelry when compared to the standards of | | | | cheaply and is not even locked up in stores. The |
| today. Another method of jewelry creation involved | | | | jewelry is worked with anything from glass to |
| the use of filigree techniques. | | | | diamonds, and continues as an extremely popular |
| Filigree is the art of wrapping or twisting wire into an | | | | substitute for gold in jewelry. |