Unlike gold, silver rarely occurs in a pure form in a sufficient quantity to be useful. Usually it has been procured by smelting other ores, of which it can be thought of as almost a by-product. In antiquity a common ore used to produce silver was galena, or lead sulfide, although it appears that lead carbonate (cerussite) was also used.

As was the case with gold, silver was always rare enough that almost everything made from it was a decorative or prestige item rather than a tool as such.

Silver, like lead, is a very soft metal, easily damaged when used by itself, and it was therefore often alloyed with other metals to increase its hardness. The admixture of a small amount of copper was usual for this purpose.

An alloy of gold and silver (which can occur naturally or be deliberately created) is called electrum and was sometimes regarded as more valuable than pure gold.