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Thread: Goldsmith or Silversmith

  1. #11
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    James, you have clarified a lot in your statement. Can you help me please as I noticed you are online now and I need help NOW. A lady has collected some sea glass when she was on honeymoon, so it has special connotations for her. She wanted two pieces made into a ring on an inside out "D" wire which i have done to an extent..... the bigger one set ok, but the little one was a bit scewiff (crooked) so I attempted to adjust it slightly and it came off the ring shank. As its glass does it have to come out of the bezel or will it withstand the heat of soldering it is only about four cm wide
    Cant get the photo to load I dont know why but I often have problems loading photos from my phone to Cookies site.
    Last edited by Patstone; 07-07-2015 at 02:22 PM.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patstone View Post
    James, you have clarified a lot in your statement. Can you help me please as I noticed you are online now and I need help NOW. A lady has collected some sea glass when she was on honeymoon, so it has special connotations for her. She wanted two pieces made into a ring on an inside out "D" wire which i have done to an extent..... the bigger one set ok, but the little one was a bit scewiff (crooked) so I attempted to adjust it slightly and it came off the ring shank. As its glass does it have to come out of the bezel or will it withstand the heat of soldering it is only about four cm wide
    Cant get the photo to load I dont know why but I often have problems loading photos from my phone to Cookies site.
    If it has sentimental value I wouldn't risk heating it unless you are using a very low melting point solder and can keep the the torch flame away from the glass. If you do solder it with extra easy solder, let it cool slowly on the solder pad in case you shatter the glass by cooling it too quickly.

  3. #13
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    Thanks James, thats what I thought. I will take it out of the bezel tomorrow and re-do it, safer option. Thanks once again for your help.

  4. #14
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    So what happens if someone bought for instance a spoon and then took the hallmark off by filing or some other method and make a ring out of it. Does it count as a new item, or does it have to be written off your records first.

  5. #15
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    It's not a question of writing it off the records...once a hallmark is on an item, you are not allowed to touch the hallmark or do anything to the item without the prior approval of the assay office. So if someone bought a spoon and filed off the hallmark they are committing an offence. Many people are quite flippant about the hallmark without realising the seriousness of what it is and what it stands for. This is an offence that used to be punishable by death remember!

  6. #16
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    Hi Steve, does that include changing the size of a hallmarked ring????cos if so just about every jeweller in the land is for the chop!
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

  7. #17
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    hahaha! Well you do need to think about the hallmarking regulations and why the mark is on there. So for example let's say you wanted to size a gold ring. As you know the weight limit for hallmarking gold is 1g, so if you're going to be adding more than 1g of gold to the ring, then technically it would need to be checked by an assay office. You can imagine a scenario with an 18ct wedding ring being sized up 10 sizes using 9ct gold. The hallmark on it indicates that the entire item is made of at least 18ct, but it's clearly not and so the poor customer is not buying what he thinks he is!
    I think in practice this again doesn't happen as often as it should do..and from personal experience I've seen rings that have been completely re-shanked and have not been re hallmarked. The jeweller then gets round the law by not describing the ring as being made of gold, and listing the repair as "re-shank to diamond ring".

  8. #18
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    How much does it cost to have the old mark struck out? and can you give any idea of how many items do go back prior to work
    (and on a personal note...I sometimes make rings etc with mostly silver, with a bit of scrap gold fused onto the surface. now that scrap comes from any old bits of gold, and sometimes I'll get a scrap ring or chain for the gold to use, all cut up in to bits not much bigger than pallions of solder. Am I heinous? when the finished ring doesn't need any mark but I often send them in anyway...
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

  9. #19
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    Pearlescence...I doubt whether you'll end up in the tower for what you're doing.....
    It's really a common sense thing so that the unsuspecting public, who rely on the hallmark as their independent guarantee, are in fact getting what they're paying for. The assay offices need to ensure that this is always the case, and that there is no fraudulent use of the marks.
    Regarding the charge for just examining an item and obliterating the mark...well that's a FREE service!!

  10. #20
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    Sep 2011
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    Phew <relief>
    and free...phew!
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

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