A silver percentage does not describe the construction of a vessel. Tokyo’s official silverware reference gives separate information about material purity, forming and attachment of parts. Keeping those descriptions apart helps a reader ask more precise questions than whether a piece is simply handmade silver.
Technique and structure
For forming, the reference distinguishes hand hammering against metal tools from hera-shibori: a wooden form rotates while a tool is used to work the silver against it by hand. It separately permits silver-soldered joints, mechanical clinching or rivets for connecting parts. A forming method therefore does not, on its own, establish that the completed object is a single piece without attached components. Shaping the body and assembling the object are separate parts of the technical description.
Read the purity figure independently
The traditional-material rule specifies silver of at least 925 parts per thousand. Elsewhere the same reference defines pure silver as 99.9 percent or above. The minimum in the craft’s material description should therefore not be rewritten as a universal pure-silver claim.
The reference also lists decorative methods separately from forming and joining. A visible hammered texture is one detail to ask about, rather than a substitute for the rest of the object’s specification.
For international readers
Ask for the actual purity, forming route and attachment method of the piece being considered. This guide provides no food-contact, heating or cleaning approval for an unidentified silver object.
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日本語
東京銀器：成形・接合・銀の純度を分けて読む
東京都は東京銀器の伝統材料を銀純度千分の925以上とし、成形には鍛金とヘラ絞り、部品接合には銀鑞付け・カシメ・鋲止めを挙げています。銀の割合、器の形を作る仕事、部品をつなぐ仕事は別の情報です。同資料で純銀は99.9％以上と別に説明され、925以上という条件をすべて純銀と読み替えません。