Sterling Silver Belcher Necklace with 15mm 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 the heaviest gauge in the style — substantial enough to be worn on its own, and with the section to carry weight.

Lengths run from 45 to 60 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; 60 cm sits mid-chest and wears over knitwear.

Finished as a necklace rather than supplied as a bare chain: it comes fitted with a 15mm 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, 60cm
• Clasp: 15mm bolt ring
• Finish: Polished
• Supplier reference: B4BR15
• 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.