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Thread: Stamping silver 925

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Default Stamping silver 925

    Hello everyone, my first post here so please be gentle.

    I have been wondering about these 925 stamps that I see being sold all over the place, but cant seem to find a answer anywhere.

    I am well aware that things that are stamped 925 are not always silver, it makes me cringe seeing the stamps being sold on ebay to scrap dealers, the gold ones too. I am assuming to stamp something thats not silver with 925 would be a trading standards jobby, but what about stamping actual silver 925, is that ok?
    I'm meaning over 7 grams in place of a hallmark.

    I keep seeing places selling silver jewellery with just 925, which is clearly over the 7grams, I always thought it must be properly hallmarked, but now i'm a bit confused.

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    dear old Blighty - (in deepest Wiltshire)
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    Hi Eleftheria,

    there is plenty of information via the Assay offices for legal advice on this and the Hallmark Guidance available at each assay website advises on the legality of it all. But, for you to know that there is a weight requirement, I am guessing you may have some idea already.

    Common sense does lead you correctly to the fact that if an item is not as it is claimed to be, there is a trading standards issue. If it is over 7.78g and claiming to be silver, the seller is committing an offence under the current act. Letting the Assay office know and trading standards, is beneficial.

    925 has no legal hallmarking standard in the UK. All new UK hallmarking has appropriate marks of standardisation from each office that remains assaying. Each item requires a sponsor mark. Some offices add the year letter automatically. It is a shame there is no regulation on these stamps. They are nuisance and flood the market with people thinking it is okay to add to any item - which, I guess it is potentially. Hence the issues that are becoming prevalent. I have seen items lasered with 925 with a claim to be silver and in fact have been plated pewter (very pliable).

    Our Hallmarking expert LAOSTEVE should be able to advise more appropriately. I can only say that the guidance explains that items under 7.78g are currently exempt from any assay or hallmark. Over this, there is a requirement to do so in order to call the item silver. Exemptions exist, such as being able to demonstrate and evidence something is pre-1950; any article which is intended for dispatch outside of the UK; raw materials, or even coins to name only a few examples outlined in the guidance documentation.

    It is good to ask questions, but really sad to hear that this situation continues at such a high rate. I did read either last year or the year before that someone suggested lowering the weight for silver, given its surge in value. Nothing came of it, I guess it would mean a lot of people wouldn't be able to make things any more.


    Welcome to the forum, do share with us more about you.

    a link to Hallmarking guidance note courtesy of London Assay Office (LAO)
    kindest,
    Wallace
    Last edited by Wallace; 06-12-2013 at 07:35 PM. Reason: hyperlink to hallmark guidance note

  3. #3
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    Hi and welcome from me too. Everything that Wallace has said re hall marking is correct too

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Sorry, those stamps cannot be used instead of hallmarking if you are selling to the public and the weight requires it. Should you wish to avoid the expense of registering with an assay office, they will hallmark pieces for you with their own sponsor's mark.

    Welcome to the forum, Dennis.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Default

    Thankyou for the replies guys

    Just to make it clear, I have no intention on using anything other than the proper hallmarks on my work.
    Both me and my mum, who is also a silversmith use a lot of recycled silver and have come across a few cases of 925 non silver pieces so generally advise customers to only buy proper hallmarked silver, but I was never sure if 925 was definitely not a legal hallmark, I thought there may be a grey area if that makes sense.

    Thankyou for the welcomes too

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
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    London
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    Morning all and welcome to Eleftheria!,
    The 925 stamp on its own means nothing, and certainly cannot be used in place of a hallmark. As previously mentioned, you can buy these stamps easily, and I see that many people use them for marking silver items which are under the 7.78g requirement weight. (It then does not become a hallmarking act issue, but more of a trade descriptions issue I guess?)
    925 only means that it is sterling silver when it forms part of a complete hallmark, which as a minimum must include the unique sponsor mark and the town mark. (The traditional fineness symbol, for example lion passant for silver, and the date letter are now optional and not compulsory and more, but we put them on anyway for no extra charge!..)
    As mentioned, it's also easy to stamp 925 on non silver items and try to pass them off as silver, which is why many people have all their silver items marked, regardless of weight.

  7. #7
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    Dennis, I can't of course speak for the other offices, but at LAO, we will only use "our" sponsor mark as a one off. For example if a member of the public who bought an item abroad and wants it marked brings it in, we wouldn't expect them to have to register, so we will just mark it LAO. We generally do not do "repeats" of the LAO mark for the same customer. The whole point of the sponsor mark is to identify the individual or company so if we keep using LAO for an individual then essentially it's an anonymous mark. If a customer is bringing in more than the odd one item then they will need to register their own mark.


    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
    Sorry, those stamps cannot be used instead of hallmarking if you are selling to the public and the weight requires it. Should you wish to avoid the expense of registering with an assay office, they will hallmark pieces for you with their own sponsor's mark.

    Welcome to the forum, Dennis.

  8. #8
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    i had a semi-row on Facebook about this kind of thing the other day. Another local jewellery maker selling an imported 19g unhallmarked 'silver' chain, and when I pointed out the hallmarking issue said that they'd informed the buyer that it 'might not be' so it was ok. Hmmm...

  9. #9
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    It's not limited to small makers either - I've had a not-dissimilar discussion with a large silver retailer who regularly exhibits at equestrian events. They don't feel the need to display the hallmarking council sign and every larger piece I've seen in the past has only been marked 925 only. A bit of a cowboy attitude all told. I've tried the trading standards route in the past but that hasn't got very far.

    As well as the consumer protection issues, there is also the level playing field to consider.

  10. #10
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    Apr 2013
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    London
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    Absolutely! These people need to understand the seriousness of the offence! Up to £5000 per article, confiscation of items and up to 2 years in jail! Failure to display the dealers notice is a fine of up to £5000! Oh and BTW it does need to be a CURRENT dealers notice, and not any old one either.....I've seen that too, and there's no excuse as the current dealers notice is available as a free download!! TS are up to their eyes investigating these "cowboys". Do let me know with all the details if you spot these characters and we can follow up too alongside TS......
    We've worked with TS authorities to confiscate over £200K of unhallmarked jewellery from ONE dealer not so long ago...so we do have successes!!

    Lydianiz....what a lame excuse.....he's offering it for sale as silver without a hallmark...an open and shut case!! Grrrrrrrrr.....

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