Do all Celtic Copper’s copper chains come with solid copper clasps?
Short answer: Yes and no. Celtic Copper chains are made of solid copper - single metal, solid red copper. The rings and clasps at the ends of our copper chains can be either solid copper or copper-plated brass.
As a jewelry customer you want to know what you’re paying for and if the piece of jewelry you are buying is made of solid metal: solid-copper, solid-silver, solid-gold, or even solid-pewter.
When you see the word “finish” used to describe an item chances are nearly 100% that what you are picking out is merely the color rather than choosing an object of intrinsic value true to the quality of its name.
We like to be very clear with our customers and let them know that our chains are made in the US of pure, solid copper. When it comes to clasps and findings we offer a choice in metallurgic composition and style.
Celtic Copper’s Solid Copper Clasps:
- Solid copper fold-over clasp, available for most chain sizes
- Solid copper toggle clasp, available for medium weight chain sizes
- Solid copper S-hook clasp, available for heavier chain sizes
- Celtic Copper’s brass-core copper-plated clasps:
- Copper-plated S-hook clasp, available for light and medium chains
- Copper-plated lobster-lock clasp, available for most chain sizes
What are the pros & cons of brass vs. copper when it comes to jewelry clasps?
Pros & Cons of Brass Clasps:
Copper-plated brass clasps offer better durability than pure copper of the same design because copper is stronger and harder as an alloy when mixed with zinc than it is as a pure metal. Brass is a mixture of metals, copper and zinc.
The majority of brass is made up of copper. Celtic Copper uses brass-core copper-plated clasps because they are the closest metal match to our chains when we want an extended choice of styles. Spring-loaded, lobster-lock clasps and solid-state S-hook clasps are both copper-pated brass-core clasps.
Copper-plated brass clasps will lose their plated finish within weeks, months or days depending on the wearer. It can be kind of alarming as a jewelry owner to watch your high-end chain turn silver underneath when you thought it was copper.
The thin layer of plating silver will fade away and the whole clasp will ultimately turn to brassy, bronzy gold. Both the brass clasp and the solid copper chain and rings take a lustrous shine when polished.
Pros & Cons of Solid Copper Clasps:
Solid copper clasps wear a little faster than brass. After months of daily use you will notice the rivet on the double-hook sister clasp starting to thin out. The decorative round bead ornament on the solid-copper version of the S-hook clasp may eventually come off.
Because the metal is solid all the way through rough edges can be sanded with a nail file, loose rivets and fold-over hinge clasps can be tightened, and no matter how many times you polish it, your chain will be copper, through and through.
Are solid copper clasps rare?
Solid copper clasps aren’t really rare. It just seems that way because when copper is pure it is a rather soft metal. That is why the styles of solid copper clasps are limited to only a few choices. At Celtic Copper we’ve got you covered with all the choices.
Did you read this blog post until the end?
We hope you found our article on copper clasps enjoyable and informative. Here’s a Celtic Copper coupon code for you even if you skipped to the end of this jewelry article first.
Type in coupon code: FOREVER15 during checkout if you’d like to try one of our copper chains today. Thank you for reading our copper blog.