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A golden hallmark
Just bought a pin that states "1/20 G.F." on the back - from reading
the posts, I understand the pin is 12K gold-plated. Here's my questions, is there a way to tell the date of the mark? Thanks in advance |
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#2
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A golden hallmark
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#3
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A golden hallmark
Peter W.. Rowe, wrote:
In the United Kingdom, precious metals marking are done as actual hallmarks, meaning the marks are applied by an independent testing/marking entity, in this case, run by the goverment hallmark office. A full British hallmark includes not only the makers mark and one or more marks indicating the karat or quality of the metal, but also a mark indicating which of the hallmark offices placed the mark, and the year it was marked. The date mark consists of a letter in a shield. A compete 'run' would be 26 years, one for each letter in the alphabet, but I don't think it was ever done: most runs being 25 years with I, J or V being omitted. Some runs are only 20 years. Runs are separated by the use of different fonts and different shaped shields. Up until 2000 (or thereabouts) the date mark was standard, but alas, it is now optional and costs extra. Such is progress. -- Regards, Gary Wooding (To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address) -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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A golden hallmark
minkiemink wrote:
Peter W.. Rowe, wrote: On Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:22:33 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry wrote: Just bought a pin that states "1/20 G.F." on the back - from reading the posts, I understand the pin is 12K gold-plated. Here's my questions, is there a way to tell the date of the mark? Thanks in advance What' you've quoted is indeed gold filled, but nothing in the "1/20 G.F." specifies 12K. It could be another karat. 14K is equally common, and 10K is also seen.. The 1/20 is a fraction, denoting the fraction of the weight of the metal that is the karat gold cladding. it can consist of a layer on each side of sheet metal (1/40th the weight on each side), or one layer on one side only, the full 1/20th of the weight. Wire is a single outside layer, of course. Either way, the remaining 19/20ths of the weight is the base metal core. The actual karat of the gold cladding of the metal is usually indicated by a seperate karat mark. Most commonly, it's placed between the 1/20 fraction and the G.F. mark, but can be just before or just after in a few cases. With jewelry made in the U.S., nothing in a hallmark indicates the date of manufacture. Sometimes, a given piece can be dated by style, or by knowing that a certain identified manufacturer (who CAN be identified if the hallmark is complete with a seperate makers mark) was in business at a certain time, or made that style during a certain period, but this usually requires some research beyond just the markings on the piece. In the United Kingdom, precious metals marking are done as actual hallmarks, meaning the marks are applied by an independent testing/marking entity, in this case, run by the goverment hallmark office. A full British hallmark includes not only the makers mark and one or more marks indicating the karat or quality of the metal, but also a mark indicating which of the hallmark offices placed the mark, and the year it was marked. Because the hallmark on British made items is not placed by the manufacturer, it serves not only as a mark, but a testament to the accuracy of that mark, since the pieces are actually tested for metals content. Some other countries, especially in europe, also have assay offices that place hallmarks on jewelry instead of the maker of the item, but rules vary. Here in the U.S.A., and in many other parts of the world, the marks are placed by the manufacturer, and while there are penalties of varying severity for false marks, the marks constitute only a promise and statement by the maker for which they can be held responsible, not an actual guarantee from any independent agency that the mark is actually accurate. And enforcement of the standards requires first that an offender actually be caught. In the UK, since everthing is tested before being marked, the only exceptions to the guarantee would be intentionally counterfeit hallmarks. People who do that, and get caught, will find the penalties rather harsher in the UK than they might have found in the U.S. as well. HTH Peter Interesting. I have sold to several stores in the UK, but have never been asked about, or required to have hallmarks of any kind, although I do stamp the karat and my trademark on the work. I guess this only applies to domestic UK goods? Mink You do not need to register and have the goods assayed and marked; the importer is responsible for this. The Assay Offices refer to what most people refer to as the "Maker's Mark" as the "Sponsor's Mark". That is not just lingo - the mark is not that of the maker but the mark of the person that put it through the assay office, or Sponsor (in your case, the importer/shop, one hopes). Hallmarking applies to all goods sold in the UK as "silver", "gold" or "platinum" unless they are exempt. Imported goods are explicitly included (there used to be a different mark used for imported goods although now the same mark is used). The simplest exemption is weight, items under the exemption weight do not need to be hallmarked, BUT they do still need to meet all the other regulations (eg on the fineness of solder, mixture of precious and base metals etc): silver: 7.78g gold: 1g platinum: 0.5g It is a serious office for someone to sell something in the UK claiming it to be made of gold, silver, platinum and for it to have not been hallmarked as such (save for the permitted exceptions). These laws apply to anyone "in the trade" (including, eg, antique shops, pawn shops). The penalties for offences under the hallmarking laws used to be death or deportation to a penal collony in times of yore. I think now it is a maximum of 10 years inside. The hallmarking laws can be avoided by referring to items as being made, for example, of "white metal" or "yellow metal". The closest you can get away with is "... plated". All of which are understatements if the items are actually made of the real thing. Cheers Andy |
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A golden hallmark
Peter, thanks for the help! There's nothing indicating the karats, so
like you said it is not 12 karats and there are no maker marks. So I have to go by style to identify the age - thanks. |
#7
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A golden hallmark
On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:22:45 GMT, wrote:
Just bought a pin that states "1/20 G.F." on the back - from reading the posts, I understand the pin is 12K gold-plated. Here's my questions, is there a way to tell the date of the mark? Thanks in advance GF would be gold-filled, where the gold lasts much much longer than gold-plated. -- Marilee J. Layman http://mjlayman.livejournal.com/ |
#8
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A golden hallmark
Sorry but not from the mark.
You can get a idea from the design but as it is not solid gold it has no date letter on a full hallmark. Dave wrote in message ... Just bought a pin that states "1/20 G.F." on the back - from reading the posts, I understand the pin is 12K gold-plated. Here's my questions, is there a way to tell the date of the mark? Thanks in advance -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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