I didn’t even need to get my testing kit out for this one. Well, I did need the file but the silver testing solution proved to be unnecessary. This piece of “silver” jewellery was £5 in one of my local charity shops. The shop thought it was silver and was selling it as such, but I wasn’t sure. Still, £5 isn’t much and even if my buy turned out to be rubbish, I was still helping the Pilgrim’s Hospice.

I got the bangle home and rubbed it with the file, only to find that underneath the thin plating of silver, it was made of purest copper:

You can’t win ’em all, I suppose.