Until this morning, I really thought that ‘Tibetan silver’ WAS silver - a low grade, perhaps, but still silver. I came across this while trying to find out what ‘Tibetan gold’ was
https://www.totallybeads.co.uk/tibetan-metal-products
Did any one else think they were buying silver made in Tibet or was it just me? 
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Yes Tibetan Silver is a metal alloy of different metals It is easy to think it is silver as the name Tibetan silver makes it sound like it is silver
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I saw it advertised once in a shop in town and when I looked at the item picked it up saw the price I knew it wasn’t silver.
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I knew that tibetan silver contained at best a very low percentage of silver, other types of ‘silver’ that don’t actually contain silver are german silver and alpaca silver. Karen Hill Tribe silver, thai silver and bali silver are silver but it is a bit of a mine field so best to get these things from a reputable dealer, good companies will be up front about what beads/ charms etc are made from and have a fact sheet like the one in the link.
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I love Karen Silver, have used it a lot in my jewellery. It is actually purer than sterling silver 99.9 as opposed to 92.5 - the Karen Hill tribe make some beautiful beads, pendants and findings. You do have to buy from reputable sellers I agree, because it isn’t cheap. Tibetan silver is just base metal.
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It’s misleading to say the least, you can usually tell the difference between real silver and items that call themselves silver! But I have been crafting for a very long time. Years ago (in the 90’s I think) there was a really nice bead company that had to cease tradding, or went bankrupt because someone took them to court about the way they described their beads as silver, and it was supposedly misleading, I knew they meant silver in colour, but someone had it in for them… such a shame because the beads were gorgeous. Whereas Tibetan silver isn’t particularly, I do use it occasionally though!
And as an aside, I wish a few company’s would prosecute a few crafts people that insist on copying others work like Disney, Lego etc. And then maybe people would think twice about copying others ideas.
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If any wants to be horrified at how misleading it can get they should look up the many variations of turquoise from the natural to the processed, the imitation and the down right fake (try googling block turquoise!).
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