The important thingis the marking. You are obeying the law and
that’s what matters. How you do the marking is up to you. SMILE
Hi Skip, I’m sure you can “write” or hand engrave your mark and
quality on your jewellery. This is certainly true of Australian
professional practice. We really only use hallmarking stamps
because it is convenient and an assumption of tradition has grown
around the practice. There’s certainly nothing in any laws that I
know of that says you can’t hand engrave or burr engrave an
identifying mark, hall-mark or signature on your beautiful work.
I’ve really enjoyed your published work, by the way… You are
well-known and read in Oz! Regards, Rex from Oz
The important thingis the marking. You are obeying the law and that's what matters.
What, exactly, is the law? I make pieces that are sterling,
copper, and brass so I never mark them except with my name and the
year. - Deb
What, exactly, is the law? I make pieces that are sterling, copper, and brass so I never mark them except with my name and the year. - Deb
Deb,
I don’t have the law in front of me, but it goes something like
this (for theUS) It is not required to place a quality mark on a
piece, but if you do:
A piece must be within limits of the quality stamped. Sterling
would be something like between.920 and .9255 14 k would be between
13.5k and 14.5k If a piece is quality marked, there must be a
hallmark that is no smaller than the quality mark.
If I make a piece that is sterling with gold accents and the
sterling FAR outweighs the gold, I will stamp it sterling and not
even worry about the gold stamp. In your case to mark a piece that
is mixed metals would be a case by case decision.
An error? Impossible! My modem is error correcting
Bobert
Carmel,CA
What, exactly, is the law? I make pieces that are sterling, copper, and brass so I never mark them except with my name and the year.
What I remember from my metalsmithing classes in school is that
the piece you mark includes everything that is soldered to it. So
if you use silver + another metal and the total composition is less
than .925 then you cannot stamp it as such. If 2 separate
components of different metals are joined in some other way beside
solder/fusing, such as linking, then it is o.k. to mark each
component that is sterling as such. But (if you don’t already) you
might want to make little cards or something to explain the metals
used in your pieces. If something is not stamped a lot of people
might just assume it is base metal.
The standards for .925, etc., include an allowance for solder.
The FTC print out book on metal guidelines is quite informative, if
dry. You can get a copy on the web somewhere, or if you are in or
near a major US city, you can buy it at the "Federal Bookstore,"
which can be found in the phonebook.
-Elaine
Midwest US
Chicago, Illinois
At the tip of one of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan