Sterling Silver Belcher Necklace with 12mm Bolt Ring

A belcher chain — rolo, in some markets — is built from uniform round links of thick-walled section. Every link is a simple closed ring of the same gauge, and that is the whole of its engineering: there is no pattern to interrupt, no bar to brace, nothing to go out of true.

The chain sits the same way whichever face lands uppermost and carries a pendant without the links distorting, which is why belcher has stayed the everyday standard in Australia.

This is a middleweight gauge within the style — the usual compromise between presence and everyday wearability.

Lengths run from 45 to 55 cm. 45 cm sits on the collarbone and is the most common pendant length; 50 cm sits just below the collarbone and clears a crew neckline; 55 cm sits at the top of the sternum.

Finished as a necklace rather than supplied as a bare chain: it comes fitted with a 12mm bolt ring. A bolt ring of that size is easy to work one-handed, which is the practical difference between a clasp you use and one you avoid.

Specification

• Metal: sterling silver (925)
• Style: Belcher chain
• Lengths available: 45cm, 50cm, 55cm
• Clasp: 12mm bolt ring
• Finish: Polished
• Supplier reference: B3BR12
• Sold as: Single piece

Sterling silver is 925 parts per thousand fine silver, the balance copper. The copper is what makes it workable — fine silver on its own is too soft to hold a form — and it is also why sterling tarnishes: the copper reacts with sulphur in the air. Tarnish is a surface film, not corrosion. It polishes off with a silver cloth and the metal beneath is unchanged.

Servicing. Simple closed rings are the easiest of all chains to open, close, shorten or repair. Store silver closed — a box or a zip bag — when it is not being worn. Tarnish is driven by air rather than by wear, so the pieces that sit in the open are the ones that darken first.