Materials & Craft

Here is exactly what your jewellery is made of. Most brands at this price won't tell you. We think that's the wrong instinct.

The metal underneath

Every piece is built on 925 sterling silver — 92.5% pure silver, the same standard used in fine jewellery. Not brass, not zinc alloy, not unspecified "gold-tone metal".

This matters because the base metal is what determines how a piece ages, whether it irritates your skin, and whether it survives being resized or repaired.

The gold

Our gold pieces are plated in 18ct gold to a minimum thickness of 1 micron.

For context: the legal minimum to call something "gold plated" is 0.5 microns. A lot of fashion jewellery sits at or just above that line, which is why it wears through in a season. We specify double it.

To be clear about what this is and isn't: gold plating is a layer of real gold bonded to sterling silver. It is not solid gold, and we will never describe it as such. With reasonable care it holds its colour for years.

The silver

Our silver pieces are rhodium plated over 925 sterling silver and anti-tarnish treated. Rhodium is what gives white gold its brightness — it resists tarnish far better than bare silver and keeps the finish crisp.

The stones

We use AAA-grade cubic zirconia, hand-set in prong or micro-pavé settings.

We chose cubic zirconia deliberately over glass or crystal. CZ measures around 8.5 on the Mohs hardness scale; glass sits nearer 5.5. In practice that's the difference between a stone that still sparkles after a year in and out of a handbag and one that goes cloudy and scuffed.

Every stone is set, not glued.

Skin safety

All our jewellery meets EU REACH limits for nickel release, lead and cadmium. Earring posts are sterling silver and tested to the stricter standard that applies to anything worn in a piercing.

If you have a known metal sensitivity and want the specifics for a particular piece, email us and we'll send you the test data.

What we won't claim

We won't call plating "solid gold". We won't call cubic zirconia a diamond. We won't invent a heritage we don't have. If a description on this site is ever unclear or overstated, tell us and we'll fix it.

Questions: shoda@shodajewels.com