Talk:Argentium sterling silver

Notability

I'm not convinced that this subject is yet notable enough for its own article, especially since most of the references seem on the promotional side. Are there any references which prove that this material has attained any kind of third-party fame, per the guidelines at WP:CORP? If not, this article should possibly be deleted or merged into something else. --Elonka 20:56, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Important to silverworking

I understand your concerns and it in particular I see why this item's significance may not be immediately obvious. Within the community of silver workers, jewelry makers and manufacturers Argentium sterling silver is a hot topic because it does not tarnish like regular silver (as well as a variety of other technical adavantages over standard sterling silver). Major manufactures are producing Argentium goods and as such the general public will soon be looking for information on it too.

For instance Orchid (http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive/index.htm) is an international mailing list of over 5000 jewelry workers and Argentium is much discussed there including dozens of detailed technical discussions totalling hundreds of individual contributions from around the world. Articles on Argentium have been published in JEWELRY ARTS AND LAPIDARY JOURNAL (http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/) on at least three separate occasions. Technical papers on Argentium have been presented at most of the major metalworking symposiums in the US.

While Argentium is a trademarked product it is having a serious impact on the silverworkers community because it dramatically changes the way in which sterling silver is and can be worked. For these reasons I think the Wikipedia notability requirements are adequately met. I will add the citations mentioned above to the wiki article ASAP. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Trevor f (talk • contribs) 04:43, September 29, 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, those will be very helpful.  :) --Elonka 18:32, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

First batch of References added. Sorry for the delay. Trevor F 02:15, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Useful and Needed

Granted I'm a new member.

But as a user I have used Wiki for a long time...

This Argentium entry should be allowed to stand because it is a separate subject matter of Tarnish resistant Sterling Silver.

In fact the reason I am now a user is because I was researching Sterling Silver, and Noticed something about NEW tarnish resistant alloys. The Argentium Sterling Silver was exactly what I was looking for. and I think it should be more prominently featured on the main Sterling Silver Page. Which is what I will attempt to do when I finish this post.

This subject matter in not trivial Please support it. LevAgency 16:28, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Patents

Any relevant patents for this alloy?

Recently we've had two listed. Both relate to silver alloys with germanium for firescale resistance:

• US Patent 6,168,071

• US Patent 6,726,877, appears to be the patent on this composition

user:195.212.199.56 has recently pointed out that US 6726877  "Silver alloy compositions" isn't the correct patent for Argentium. For one thing, it discusses silver alloys from 80% to 99%, Argentium is 92.5%, i.e. Sterling.

I'm puzzled though why that one was removed, when US 6168071  "Method for joining materials together by a diffusion process using silver/germanium alloys..." is even less relevant.

I can see some scope for keeping both patent refs, suitably annotated, as they're both related to silver/germanium for the purpose of resisting scaling effects. Neither would I disagree with a purist editor who saw both as too far removed. Seems strange to keep one of them though? Ideally of course, we need the relevant one!

Also, my apologies to user:195.212.199.56 for distrusting their edit at first. Andy Dingley (talk) 14:55, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Bias in favour of the product

The article mentions note of the drawbacks of using this material in favour of 'standard sterling silver'. i know people have had trouble with cracking under heat. having said this, the tarnish proof silver is a massively important development in precious metallurgy. i would just like a more balanced article. Eutectics, 12/07/10 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eutectics (talk • contribs) 10:33, 12 July 2010 (UTC)