Surgical steel, sterling silver and bronze: when each shows up

Brass is the most common base, and the next lesson will teach you to identify that base in your kit. But there are three other metals that come up often in your clients' vocabulary: surgical steel, sterling silver and bronze. Each has a legitimate place in the market, and each usually arrives wrapped in confusion. Today you leave knowing who is who.

Surgical steel

Surgical steel is an iron alloy with chromium, nickel (in some formulations) and other elements, originally developed for medical instruments. The version most used in jewelry is 316L surgical steel, known for good corrosion resistance and skin tolerance.

Where it shows up most:

Piercings. Practically the market standard for first piercings, precisely for healing compatibility.
Some hypoallergenic lines. There are manufacturers that use surgical steel as a demi-fine base for clients who react to everything. Note: not all surgical steel is nickel-free. The "ASTM F138" and similar versions are made for implant use and tend to release very little nickel; other versions release more.
Heavy-use accessories. Sport bracelets, pieces meant for water, more casual couple rings.

Surgical steel does not take 18k plating the same way brass does. Its surface is harder to prepare for gold bonding, and when plated, the result tends to be more fragile. That is why it usually appears in its own color (silver-gray) rather than plated, or with special fixation treatments.

In your words: "Surgical steel is great for piercings and for pieces that get wet. For plated demi-fine, the Herreira brass base works better with the three-micron 18k plating."

Sterling silver (prata 925)

Here lies the most dangerous confusion in the market. Write this down:

Sterling silver is not demi-fine. It is jewelry. A different category, with its own name, its own technique, its own price.

Sterling silver (also called "925 silver" or "prata de lei") is a solid alloy of 92.5% pure silver plus 7.5% copper. The whole piece is that material — it has no gold plating on top like demi-fine, no brass base underneath. It is silver from beginning to end.

Two points you need to lock in:

Sterling silver oxidizes. That gradual darkening every silver piece develops over time is the silver itself reacting with air — not a defect, just metal chemistry. Clean it with a cloth and silver-specific product, and the shine returns.
Herreira may have sterling silver lines at specific moments, and that is very legitimate. But when selling them, make it clear to the client that it is a different category. It lasts forever as jewelry, but needs silver care (not 18k-plating care). Do not mix the two conversations.

The canonical phrase: "Jewelry is heritage. Costume is the adornment of the month. Demi-fine is the jewelry you wear every day." Sterling silver enters as jewelry — and deserves to be sold with the posture of jewelry, not of demi-fine.

Bronze

Bronze is an ancient alloy: copper plus tin, in varying proportions. In today's Brazilian demi-fine universe, bronze rarely shows up as a base — it lost ground to brass, which is more malleable and cheaper. You still find bronze in artisanal pieces, ethnic jewelry, and vintage-styled designs.

Behavior: bronze is darker than brass, oxidizes into a characteristic brown-greenish patina, and responds differently to plating. When a client brings a piece from another brand saying "this one is bronze", what she is saying is "the base is different from what I usually see" — and it is up to you to recognize it.

The pocket phrase

"Surgical steel is for piercings and water contact. Sterling silver is solid jewelry, a category of its own. Bronze is more artisanal and rare. For everyday 18k demi-fine, quality brass remains the right base."

What to practice this week

Look through your personal collection (your own jewelry, old family pieces, things you never really looked at) and try to identify: where there is steel, where there is sterling silver, where there is brass. This exercise trains your eye and gives you repertoire to talk to any client who walks in with an unknown piece in hand.