The first and easiest method is to compare the silver jewelry with another piece that you know for a fact is real silver. Silver polishes nicely and provides a brilliant shine with a white tinge. Once you've purchased a few pieces of real (usually sterling) silver jewelry, you'll be able to identify most other real pieces of silver just by looking at them. Silver rings and jewelry also have a specific “feel” to them. They aren't too light and not too heavy. While this isn't 100% reliable, it can still help when sorting out the real silver jewelry from the fakes.

Ok, maybe comparing a prospective piece of jewelry with known silver isn't the easiest method. If you have good eyesight or a magnifying glass, it may be easier to look for markings on the silver. Most sterling silver will have a marking that tells you what it is. This may be the standard mark for sterling, a unique “maker's mark”, or the numbers “925” (sometimes stamped as “.925”). If the ring or piece of jewelry is stamped with “925” or the word “sterling”, you can be pretty sure it contains 92.5% silver and is indeed real sterling silver jewelry. I would recommend carrying a magnifying glass (or small jeweler's loop) whenever inspecting jewelry as the markings (if any) are sometimes very tiny and difficult to read with the naked eye. If you are buying silver rings or jewelry online, make sure that quality photos are included. Today's digital cameras can take great close-up images of silver jewelry, showing without a doubt any marks that are stamped on it. If the images don't show any markings, ask the seller if the piece is stamped and if they will send you close-up pictures of the markings. While sterling silver jewelry is not always stamped, most of it is and is a reliable way of ensuring you're getting what you pay for.

One more method of determining if a piece of silver jewelry is real silver or not is known as the “ring test”. This is more difficult to learn and takes some practice but with enough time and patience, it can be used to successfully determine if that jewelry you're looking to buy is real silver or not.
The “ring test” is so called because of the distinctive sound silver jewelry makes when it comes in contact with a hard surface. The easiest way to check the sound silver makes is to hold it a few inches above a table or suitable surface and then drop it. The problem with dropping silver pieces is you may damage them if there are fragile design elements and most silver sellers will frown on this. So instead, you can hold the silver loosely in one hand, then tap it with your fingernail of the other hand. This will produce a similar result, while not as loud and distinctive as the drop test.
All real silver produces the same distinctive ring sound when dropped or tapped and while not the most desirable or easy to learn test, it can still help determine if that piece of jewelry is real silver or not.

Of course, there are other tests that can be used to determine if silver is real or not (like an acid or chemical test). But the tips above are quick and simple and work in most all cases in most any situation. Hopefully after reading this you're better prepared to identify real silver jewelry and well on your way to building a quality silver jewelry collection.