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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. In a more general sense, the term hallmark is used to refer to any standard of quality.
750 gold stamp means 18-karat gold. A “GF” or “HGP” stamp means the ring is gold-plated, instead of pure gold. You’ll also find “Vermeil” on a sterling silver ring with gold plating.
Initially, hallmarks consisted of the goldsmiths' proper mark which was the maker's mark originally used to identify the silversmith or goldsmith responsible for making the article. The fineness mark, the crowned harp, was applied to 22 carat gold and sterling silver, which was silver of a standard of 925 parts of fine silver in each 1,000.
The hallmark indicates the amount of precious metal in the alloy in parts per thousand (the millesimal fineness). In addition to indicating the town where the item was marked, a unique sponsor's or maker's mark identifies the item's origin and a date letter to represent the year of marking. Traditional hallmarks
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 ...
As a rule, the marks are applied in blue under the glaze. However, they also appear as overglaze marks in blue, iron red and gold. The first stamp was the T over a fish. The crossed S and P have been used since 1901. On August 21, 1902, the entwined S and P above the word Dresden were registered as a trademark. [16]
The assay office marks - from left to right, London, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Assay Office is the last remaining Assay Office in Scotland and one of four which remain in the United Kingdom. The Edinburgh Assay Office traces its hallmarking history back to 1457 [1] when the first hallmarking act of Scotland was created ...
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