Industry takes a shine to silver innovation (hktdc.com)


	From left: Dragon Young, Managing Director, Leach & Garner HK; Richard Leyens, CEO, Argentium International; Ken Mannering, Sales and Marketing Director, Argentium International and Richard Powers, President & CEO, Cookson Group plc

	The Eternal Silver London jewellery collection, to be launched in Britain this month, features Argentium 970-Pure, the purest silver alloy on the market

It is the holy grail of the silver industry: how to come up with a tarnish-free form of the precious metal. "The traditional sterling silver typically goes black and is too soft," said Ken Mannering, Sales and Marketing Director of Argentium International. "What we have now is something that will set a new standard for the way silver is manufactured." Argentium International is launching what it says is the most tarnish-resistant silver available on the market today. It has partnered with leading Hong Kong silver manufacturer, Leach & Garner, to introduce the premium product worldwide.

Argentium Silver was developed in 1991 by Peter Johns, a master silversmith at Middlesex University. Leach & Garner's parent company, Cookson Precious Metals from the United States, entered into a joint venture with UK-based Argentium International, to further develop the invention to make it work in all forms. Said to be the most significant innovation in precious metals since sterling silver, Argentium Silver is highly tarnish-resistant and does not develop fire-scale – stains that appear during the manufacturing process. The key ingredient that allows this is Germanium, which rises to the top of the metal as it ages, making the silver even more tarnish-resistant over time.

Besides jewellery, Argentium Silver is being touted as the perfect material for musical instruments and cutlery. It is also marketed as "green silver" because without firescale, the production process does not require use of toxic chemicals for cleaning residue and plating. The company is now working with 20 branded companies – from jewellery, giftware, cutlery to musical instrument manufacturers – to use Argentium Silver.

Huge market potential

As one of the main centres in the global silver industry, Hong Kong will be the base from where Argentium Silver will be launched and marketed. "The team at Leach & Garner in Hong Kong shares our vision for the huge potential of Argentium Silver, and their skills are highly complementary to ours," said Richard Leyens, Argentium International CEO. "It is this combination that will drive Argentium Silver to be the pre-eminent choice for Asia's silver industry." The product, introduced at a recent jewellery fair in Hong Kong, caused "quite a buzz at the show," Mr Leyens said.

"We know the business very well, so we recognised, immediately, that this was a significant innovation," said Dragon Young, Managing Director of Leach & Garner, which is helping launch the product to the wider market. According to Mr Young, Argentium Silver is versatile because it is highly malleable during production, yet can be heat-treated to nearly twice the hardness of standard sterling silver.

Hong Kong, Mr Young said, is an important launching pad for the international market because of the city's strong technical support, communication and transport infrastructure. Initial feedback from clients, he said, has been good because of Argentium Silver's unique properties, which also allows for a wider variety of silver content.

Fine jewellery line

After introducing Argentium 925 Silver commercially in 2005, Argentium 970-Pure Silver, the purest form of broadly commercially available silver alloy, will be officially launched later this year. The company is also in the midst of developing Argentium as a brand, with the introduction of the Eternal Silver London jewellery collection, to be sold in 100 high-end stores in Britain this month.

"Argentium is a premium silver that costs less than gold and platinum, but keeps its rich natural lustre," said Mr Mannering. "Hong Kong, which is one of the key centres of silver manufacturing, has been very receptive to our product," noting that it was a Hong Kong company that was first to use Argentium Silver. He said the response has been phenomenal, praising Hong Kong's "open" attitude to new products. "In Hong Kong, they want to help you make it work."