Two components can both be genuine 925 sterling silver, similar in size and weight, and still land at noticeably different price points wholesale. Production method - specifically, how much hand-finishing work went into the piece - is usually the reason, and understanding it helps you read a price list more intelligently.
Casting: consistency at scale
Casting produces a piece by pouring or injecting molten silver into a mould, then finishing the resulting piece (trimming, polishing, sometimes light hand-detailing). It's the standard method for producing simpler, repeatable shapes - plain beads, bead caps, basic clasps, standard jump rings - at consistent quality and a lower per-piece cost, because the mould does most of the shaping work rather than a craftsperson doing it by hand each time. Cast pieces from a well-maintained mould are highly consistent piece to piece, which matters if you need matching components in volume for assembly.
Hand-finishing: character at a cost
Hand-finished work adds labour-intensive detailing on top of (or instead of) the base casting - granulation (fusing tiny silver spheres by hand), filigree (twisting and soldering fine wire), individually applied texturing, or fully hand-fabricated pieces built from wire and sheet rather than cast at all. This is the technique behind genuine Bali-style beadwork. It costs more per piece because it takes a skilled craftsperson real time per unit, and it typically shows small natural variation piece to piece - a feature of handwork, not a defect (a mould-cast imitation of the same look often looks suspiciously uniform under close inspection, which is itself a tell).
Neither method is "better" - they solve different problems
- Casting wins when you need volume, consistency, and lower cost-per-piece - the connective and structural components of a design (see our findings guide).
- Hand-finishing wins when the piece is meant to be a focal point that customers notice and pay a premium for - the visual centrepiece of a necklace or earring.
Most well-planned jewellery lines use both deliberately: cast components for the structural, high-volume parts of a design, hand-finished pieces as the focal element that justifies a higher retail price - the same logic covered in our Simple Beads vs Bali Beads comparison.
What to ask a supplier about production method
If a per-piece price seems unusually low for a design that looks hand-detailed in photos, or unusually high for a simple shape, production method is a reasonable thing to ask about directly - a supplier should be able to tell you plainly whether a given design is cast, hand-finished, or a combination of both, since it directly explains the pricing. Weight and finish quality in hand are the most reliable practical check; requesting a small sample before a bulk order (see our guide on sample orders) lets you inspect this directly rather than relying on photos alone.
Across our own catalogue, the Bali Beads collection is our hand-detailed, granulation-and-filigree work; the rest of the range covers the simpler, structural components a design needs to come together. Ask us directly about any specific design's production method - we're glad to answer before you commit to a quantity.