Oxidized Silver Chains vs Living Silver: the difference

The dark layer on silver is silver sulfide. It grows to a certain thickness and stops — it seals the metal underneath and goes no further. That is passivation, not corrosion. Silver does not rust; rust belongs to iron. Silver answers to traces of sulfur in the air and on skin.

That is the whole difference between two dark chains on a shelf. Oxidation is a method: the same sulfide is grown in production, and the piece reaches its owner already dark. Living Silver is a property: the chain leaves light and darkens on its own, on the person, over months.

STRUGA makes five chains and chokers for the neck, and every one of them is uncoated 925 in Living Silver. Thorn runs 11–18 g, Signature Asymmetric Links 27–33 g, Small Beads with Heart 27–33 g, the long chain with Signature links 35 g at 120 cm, Blade Mini Links 80–110 g. There is exactly one pre-blackened piece for the neck in the catalogue, and it is not a chain.

Oxidation is a method — the silver is darkened at once; Living Silver is a property — it darkens on the wearer. All five chains and chokers STRUGA makes for the neck are uncoated 925 in Living Silver. Catalogue lengths: 40, 45, 50, 75 and 120 cm; weights from 11 to 110 g; $245 to $2,150, and checkout is charged in rupiah. One pre-blackened piece for the neck — Asymmetric Destroyed, 40 g, $1,250. Made to order, about two weeks.

• How oxidation differs from Living Silver
• What happens over the first three years
• The chains and chokers for the neck
• The blackened piece is not a chain
• Choosing length and weight
• Care
• In short
• Frequently asked questions

How oxidation differs from Living Silver

Sterling is 92.5% silver and 7.5% alloy, usually copper. Pure silver is too soft to wear — it dents under fingers. Copper lifts the hardness by an order of magnitude, and only then can a link hold its shape under the weight of the links beside it.

Oxidation works on the surface of that alloy. A reaction with sulfur converts the top layer into silver sulfide — a dark compound that does not sit on the metal but is the metal, altered at the skin. It cannot chip off. It can be worn back, by friction.

Living Silver is STRUGA's own name for uncoated 925. The chemistry is the same, but it runs on the wearer rather than in production: friction lifts the raised edges, the recesses go dark. The patina becomes a map of how the piece is worn. Two identical links on two hands look different within a year, because skin chemistry differs from person to person.

The third option on the market is electroplating with black rhodium or ruthenium. That is a coating — an even, foreign layer over the silver. It chips at the edges and wears away in patches, and it cannot be restored, only reapplied. STRUGA plates nothing with rhodium.

The stated limit matters more than a promise here: anyone who wants an even mirror finish that holds for years should not take Living Silver.

What happens to a chain over the first three years

The first year shows the most. The chain arrives light, and within months the dark appears where friction cannot reach: the inner face of a link, the joint, the gap under the clasp. The raised surfaces stay bright — skin and cloth keep touching them.

The second and third year lock the pattern in. The contrast between dark recesses and bright edges becomes stable. From that point the chain looks the same day to day, as long as no abrasive touches it.

After that, little changes. Surface sulfide is stable: mechanical contact removes it from the high points, skin maintains it in the recesses. The balance holds for years.

A pre-blackened piece runs the other way. It starts at maximum dark and lightens — fastest on sharp edges and wherever the piece lies against the body. By the same second or third year its pattern settles too, only with more dark in it to begin with. The two chains reach a similar look from opposite directions.

The STRUGA chains and chokers for the neck

The full neck range, with catalogue lengths, weights and prices. Weight is given per length: on a chain it moves with the size, and the difference can be several times over. The finish across the range is one — uncoated 925 Living Silver; the single exception is marked in the table.

Piece	Lengths and weights	Price
Thorn Links Chain	40 cm — 11 g · 45 — 12 g · 50 — 13 g · 75 — 18 g	$245–380
Signature Asymmetric Links Choker	40 cm — 27 g · 45 — 30 g · 50 — 33 g	$570–655
Small Beads with Heart Choker	40 cm — 27 g · 45 — 30 g · 50 — 33 g	$570–655
Long Chain with Signature Links	120 cm — 35 g	$715
Blade Mini Links V.1 Choker	40 cm — 80 g · 45 — 90 g · 50 — 110 g	$1,550–2,150
Asymmetric Destroyed Necklace — blackened	one length — 40 g	$1,250

The range reads by link geometry, and all three families come out of the CODEX world — where STRUGA keeps its everyday architectural form, without stones or inserts, on clean uncoated silver.

THORN is the third form of the brand, a thorn with sharp angles: the links fall into a toothed line, and this is the lightest piece in the range. SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC is the first form of the brand — a hexagonal link alternating with a faceted bar, closed by a toggle. BLADE is the second form, a CNC aesthetic in silver: the link is built from two halves on copper pins, repeated at micro scale and closed with the large Carabiner #2 Big. Blade Mini Links weighs 110 g at 50 cm and stays the heaviest thing on the neck.

The full range sits on the chains collection; the men's selection is gathered separately.

The blackened piece in the catalogue is not a chain

The one pre-blackened piece for the neck is Asymmetric Destroyed. A cleaver cast in silver, then deliberately bent, fractured and blackened until the form reads as something dug out of the ground. The pendant weighs 40 g and hangs on a plain silver chain: the chain stays quiet, the cleaver carries the statement.

This is the logic of the brand rather than an accident of stock. Pre-blackened pieces live in the RITUAL world, where a dark surface is part of what the object means. Chains from CODEX have no reason to be blackened — they are going to darken on their own.

If a blackened chain is what the piece calls for, it is made separately. Length, weight and link geometry are settled in the order; the silver takes about two weeks either way.

Choosing length and weight

There are five lengths in the catalogue, and they do not match the usual retail grid: 40, 45, 50, 75 and 120 cm. The in-between 55 and 60 cm do not exist ready-made — those are made to order.

• 40 cm — at the base of the neck, visible above a collar
• 45 cm — at the collarbone, the most versatile length in the range
• 50 cm — upper sternum, works with an open or closed collar
• 75 cm — below the sternum, loose without a pendant
• 120 cm — a long chain, worn in one turn or two

Weight is chosen by presence, not by the number. The spread across the range is tenfold: 11 g for the short Thorn, 110 g for Blade Mini Links at 50 cm. Under 35 g a chain barely registers on the body. Over 80 g it is felt on every movement and wanders less through the day.

Two chains are separated by at least 5 cm in length, or they tangle. A working pair from the catalogue: Thorn at 40 cm above, the long chain at 120 cm below — the light and the heavy geometry do not argue.

Care: Living Silver and blackened silver are cleaned differently

One rule covers both. Neither is cleaned with an abrasive on impulse: polish, paste and dip cleaners strip the dark completely, and the chain comes back evenly bright — the look no one bought it for.

Living Silver needs very little. Wipe it with a soft dry cloth after wear, especially after sweat or rain, and store it away from other metal pieces. The patina is reversible: an owner who wants the metal back at light does it with silver cleaning fluid, or on a matte surface with a scotchbrite pad, which takes off the thin top layer and sets a new matte at the same time. After that the chain starts over.

A blackened piece needs care where Living Silver does not. An ultrasonic bath is safe for the metal but accelerates the loss of the dark. Chlorine in pools and hot tubs strips it aggressively and, over time, corrodes the alloy at the link joints. Seawater the chain takes — rinse it with fresh water afterward and dry it fully.

Re-blackening, if years of wear ever call for it, is done on request through a custom order.

The neck range in short

Question	Answer
Finish of STRUGA chains	Living Silver — uncoated 925, darkens with wear
Blackened piece for the neck	one — Asymmetric Destroyed, 40 g
Lengths	40, 45, 50, 75, 120 cm
Weights	11 to 110 g
Neck range price	$245–2,150; checkout is charged in rupiah
Lead time	made to order, about two weeks
Plating	used on no piece in the brand

A chain is a carrier. What it carries is the owner's decision; what it becomes by the third year is his own doing.

Related reading

• All chains and chokers →
• Men's silver chains →
• Living Silver
• The neck row in full
• Silver pendants