5 Tips to Choose the Right Silver Jewelry

NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - Demand for silver jewelry surpassed the metal's usage in the photography sector in the past two years, signaling robust growth, an industry report showed on Thursday. The report, compiled by research firm GFMS for the Silver Institute, a trade group, also said silver's share of total precious metals jewelry volume increased to 65.6 percent in 2005 from 60.5 percent in 1999. For the first time, the report showed separate jewelry and silverware data from 1996 to 2005, the industry group said. The Silver Institute, which also produces the yearly "world silver survey," has in the past only featured jewelry and silverware as a combined category, it said. "I think what it really indicates is that there has been pretty strong underlying growth in silver jewelry demand," said Philip Kalpwijk, executive chairman of GFMS Ltd, in an interview before the report was issued. However, Kalpwijk also said that data would show total silver jewelry demand in 2006 to drop by "significantly over 5 percent" year-on-year, largely because of a 46-percent jump in prices for the year. The 2006 world silver survey will be released in May. Spot silver XAG= saw some volatile price swings in 2006. It peaked at a 25-year high of $15.17 an ounce in May, but had then tumbled to a low of $9.38 just one month later. Silver was quoted at $13.30 an ounce on Thursday. A complete copy of the 54-page report, titled "Silver Jewelry Report," can be downloaded from the Silver Institute's Web site at www.silverinstitute.org