Is this another marketing ploy?
Short answer, yes, most of the time “coated silver” is a marketing term.
Here’s the simple why. True colloidal silver is just tiny particles of pure silver suspended in water. Nothing else is needed. When you see “coated silver,” it usually means the silver particles are wrapped or bonded with something like protein, polymers, gelatin, or other stabilizers. That coating is added to keep particles from clumping or to make the product shelf-stable, not because silver itself needs help.
The benefit being implied is often “better absorption” or “safer” or “more advanced.” In reality, once you coat silver, you’ve changed its behavior. The body is no longer interacting with plain silver particles, but with whatever the silver is bound to. That can change how it acts on the skin or in the body, and it can also increase the chance of buildup or irritation, depending on the coating.
Think of it like fresh herbs versus herbs sealed in plastic and additives. The plastic doesn’t make the herb stronger. It just makes it easier to package and sell.
Clean, properly made colloidal silver does not need coatings, binders, proteins, salts, or stabilizers. Those additions mainly serve manufacturing, shelf life, or marketing stories, not biological necessity.
If you want silver in its simplest, most natural form, clear, particle-based colloidal silver with no added coatings is the most straightforward and least manipulated option.