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mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 12:22 AM
Is there anywhere I can buy 930 stamped ovel assurance tags for argentium jewellery? Or possibly blanks I can stamp myself? Many thanks

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china
21-12-2016, 04:25 AM
As far as I,m aware this is no such grade

Dennis
21-12-2016, 06:01 AM
In any case they would have no validity. You can use 925 tags but only a 925 hallmark will ultimately do. Dennis.

mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 11:26 AM
Argentium is .930 or 960. I am not wanting a hallmark, I'm wanting the oval assurance tags.

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CJ57
21-12-2016, 11:32 AM
Probably best to make your own in that case either with a disc cutter or a saw if you can get a 930 stamp

josef1
21-12-2016, 12:10 PM
How many do you need maybe worth having them cast if you need a few ?

Wallace
21-12-2016, 12:56 PM
Argentium is .930 or 960. I am not wanting a hallmark, I'm wanting the oval assurance tags.

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Shoot me down if needed, but what is an assurance tag? If you are in the UK, your assurance (guarantee) is the assay and hallmark done at an assay office. Anyone can put a stamp on any tag with a set of well known numbers on it, it doesn't mean anything other than a set of numbers, unless you are in a country that says you must mark it. Whom is it that is being assured? Argentium is still assayed, as far as I am aware, from looking at the hall notes, as Sterling Silver (925).

mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 01:16 PM
Silver items under 7.76 grams don't need an hallmark, it would cost too much to send a small pair of earrings to the assay office, so quite often here in the UK they will be stamped .925 as an assurance to the customer that they are buying sterling silver. Bracelets with a fine chain usually have a small oval finding between the chain & jump ring with it also being stamped .925 for the same reason. My question is, as they are so readily available here in the UK for small sterling items, is there one for argentium silver I.e a .930 oval tag? Hope this explains it better.
It is not required by law, yet customers expect to see a .925 tag on smaller items in the place of an hallmark from the assay office.

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mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 01:18 PM
In reply to your earlier point, yes you can stamp argentium as sterling but why would you? Would you stamp 18k as 14k?

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mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 01:20 PM
Probably best to make your own in that case either with a disc cutter or a saw if you can get a 930 stamp
Thanks. Maybe I'll have to do this. I can buy a .930 stamp here in the UK

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mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 01:20 PM
How many do you need maybe worth having them cast if you need a few ?
About 25 I guess around 6x4mm

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CJ57
21-12-2016, 01:58 PM
I have to agree with Wallace that anyone can add a tag but it doesn't actually mean anything and in some cases buyers are duped by unscrupulous sellers. I've never found any of my customers look for tagging but I tend to even have my underweight items hallmarked if I'm sending in a big batch to make up the min quantity price.
I also found this on marking
Argentium has its own hallmark and is stamped .925 as it is still a sterling silver, although you can buy it at the higher standard of Britannia silver if preferred and it will be hallmarked as such

ps_bond
21-12-2016, 02:20 PM
Silver items under 7.76 grams don't need an hallmark, it would cost too much to send a small pair of earrings to the assay office, so quite often here in the UK they will be stamped .925 as an assurance to the customer that they are buying sterling silver.
...
It is not required by law, yet customers expect to see a .925 tag on smaller items in the place of an hallmark from the assay office.


Which is another area customers need to be educated on - it has absolutely no basis in reality. I could stamp silver items "made entirely of fish" and it still wouldn't make it the case.
"Assurance" tags give a false sense of security. Customers invariably see a 925 stamp (missing the brass colour poking through the plating on some imports) and declare it to be hallmarked.

As for short-changing on 930 vs 925, the 925 hallmark denotes the *minimum* fineness - and given the value of the materials, the difference between 925 & 999 is negligible. Market it as tarnish-free, fine - but I don't believe that the 0.5% extra silver content represents a valid USP.

ps_bond
21-12-2016, 02:23 PM
Here you go - http://www.argentiumsilver.com/certified-silver-purity
You can apply to be a licensed user of the winged unicorn mark. It still isn't a hallmark though.

There's an optional Britannia hallmark that covers 958 too.

mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 02:37 PM
Which is another area customers need to be educated on - it has absolutely no basis in reality. I could stamp silver items "made entirely of fish" and it still wouldn't make it the case.
"Assurance" tags give a false sense of security. Customers invariably see a 925 stamp (missing the brass colour poking through the plating on some imports) and declare it to be hallmarked.

As for short-changing on 930 vs 925, the 925 hallmark denotes the *minimum* fineness - and given the value of the materials, the difference between 925 & 999 is negligible. Market it as tarnish-free, fine - but I don't believe that the 0.5% extra silver content represents a valid USP.
It's not .5% more silver, it's a different alloy all together. Sterling uses copper whereas argentium uses germanium.

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mickdunn1975
21-12-2016, 02:38 PM
Here you go - http://www.argentiumsilver.com/certified-silver-purity
You can apply to be a licensed user of the winged unicorn mark. It still isn't a hallmark though.

There's an optional Britannia hallmark that covers 958 too.
Thank you

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ps_bond
21-12-2016, 04:03 PM
It's not .5% more silver, it's a different alloy all together. Sterling uses copper whereas argentium uses germanium.


Completely incorrect - Argentium uses around 1% germanium *and copper as well*. As it's only the precious metal content that is relevant to hallmarking, you could put any other metal in there to alloy it to make up the remaining 7.5% - cobalt, zinc, lead, nickel... Some of them won't alloy, some of them will give rise to strange intermetallics (usually brittle), some of them are a bad idea for REACH.

Sterling silver is by definition 925 parts silver per 1000, by weight. The rest is *often* copper, but not necessarily.

Peter Johns' patent on Argentium which clearly details the makeup of it and several other germanium-bearing alloys: https://www.google.com/patents/EP1888797A1?cl=en

china
22-12-2016, 04:43 PM
I would be concerned re your supplier Argentium 930 is no longer produced

mickdunn1975
22-12-2016, 04:54 PM
I have enough to be going on with for the next 6 months.


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mickdunn1975
22-12-2016, 05:01 PM
Argentium uses upto 3% argentium he states. I've read the patent. Slighlty of topic here now lol ive bought a .930 stamp anyway, thanks for all the input.


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