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A hallmark is punched into a section of a silver chain by a silversmith.. A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium.
The old hallmarks were as unique as today's logos, and disputes often arose when one company copied another's stamp. [citation needed] "The words "silver" and "sterling silver" describe a product that contains 92.5% pure silver. Silver products sometimes may be marked 925, which means that 925 parts per thousand are pure silver.
It bears the royal stamp ENRI. REX ("King Henry") but this was added later, in the reign of Henry III . The first legal definition of sterling silver appeared in 1275, when a statute of Edward I specified that 12 troy ounces of silver for coinage should contain 11 ounces 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 pennyweights of silver and 17 + 3 ⁄ 4 pennyweights of alloy ...
For example, 10k, 14k, and 18k mean 10-carat, 14-carat, and 18-carat gold, and 925 indicates sterling silver. You may also see a maker’s mark, which provides information on who made the piece ...
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The zolotnik (Russian золотник, from the Russian zoloto, or золото, meaning gold) was used in Russia as early as the 11th century to denote the weight of gold coins. In its earliest usage, the zolotnik was 1/96 of a pound, but it later was changed to represent 1/72 of a pound.
24-carat gold is pure (while 100% purity is very difficult to attain, 24-carat as a designation is permitted in commerce for a minimum of 99.95% purity), 18-carat gold is 18 parts gold, 6 parts another metal (forming an alloy with 75% gold), 12-carat gold is 12 parts gold (12 parts another metal), and so forth.
Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metals. This is often done to protect consumers from buying fake items. Upon successful completion of an assay (i.e. if the metallurgical content is found be equal or better than that claimed by the maker and it otherwise conforms to the prevailing law) the assay offices typically stamp a hallmark on the item to ...