Gold bracelet
 

I have a gold bracelet that I want to sell on ebay. It weights 12grams and
has "375" and "Italy" imprinted on it. there are other markings on it that
appear hallmark ish that I can not make out even when I view them thru
my magnifier. The gold appears to be a very reddish gold. Can anyone tell
me anything about the marks I have identified please. Also can anyone refer
me to a website that might deal with hallmarks associated with this type of
item
MBS

I have a gold bracelet that I want to sell on ebay. It weights 12grams and
has "375" and "Italy" imprinted on it. there are other markings on it that
appear hallmark ish that I can not make out even when I view them thru
my magnifier. The gold appears to be a very reddish gold. Can anyone tell
me anything about the marks I have identified please. Also can anyone refer
me to a website that might deal with hallmarks associated with this type of
item
MBS

The 375 means it's 9 kt gold. The Italy means it was made in Italy which at
one time was known for their quality. These days there are so many Italian
manufacturers its hard to tell the good ones from the bad ones.

In article , "H. J. Corney"
writes:

any manufacturer of any nationality can
register a hall mark with the UK assay offices.

But I guess the bad Italian ones don't want to......?

Or maybe don't want to pay the fee? Unless Britain is less beaurocratic and
less tax/fee-crazy than her former colony, the costs may be prohibative,
especially if they also need to get ECC and/or Italian certification. And from
whatever other country demands its certification as a condition for imports.
Kaytee
"Simplexities" on
www.eclecticbeadery.com
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/simplexities

for rec.crafts.jewelry please peter
In article , "H. J. Corney"
writes:
=20
any manufacturer of any nationality can
register a hall mark with the UK assay offices.
=20
But I guess the bad Italian ones don't want to......?
=20
Or maybe don't want to pay the fee? Unless Britain is less beaurocratic a=
nd
less tax/fee-crazy than her former colony, the costs may be prohibative,
especially if they also need to get ECC and/or Italian certification. And=
from
whatever other country demands its certification as a condition for impor=
ts.
Kaytee
"Simplexities" on
www.eclecticbeadery.com
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/simplexities
=20
Registration is I think =A325.00 for 10 years. The actual hallmarking costs a
very modest 31p per item.

The hallmark adds considerably more value to the item than the 31p it costs=
..

In my opinion there is no good reason not to get a hallmark in the UK unles=
s
of course your work is not "up to scratch" in which case they will smash it
to bits and return the broken pieces to the maker.

That's real consumer protection :-) I wish it applied to cars, household
goods etc and not just jewellery.

There is now a "save the Hallmark" campaign c/o

Henry Curteis
"Save the british hallmark"
Ellesmere
Shropshire
SY12 9EG
E-mail

Please write to your MP if you live in the UK and care about our traditions

You can find your MP at http://www.parliament.uk
and your MEP at
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/meps.htm

Cheers all from Hillary who has had a name mark since 1975
--=20

Hillary Corney

Designer Silversmith and Jeweller
http://www.designersilversmiths.com

for rec.crafts.jewelry please peter

opps the Newsnet has turned my UK pound sign into a figure that looks like
"=A325.00"

My fault for not using words instead of currency signs here is a correction
to yesterdays post:


Registration is I think 25.00 UK pounds about 39 US dollars for 10 years.
The actual hallmarking costs a very modest 31p per item. (about 50 cents US)

The hallmark adds considerably more value to the item than the 31p it costs.

In my opinion there is no good reason not to get a hallmark in the UK unless
of course your work is not "up to scratch" in which case they will smash it
to bits and return the broken pieces to the maker.

That's real consumer protection :-) I wish it applied to cars, household
goods etc and not just jewellery.

There is now a "save the Hallmark" campaign c/o

Henry Curteis
"Save the british hallmark"
Ellesmere
Shropshire
SY12 9EG
E-mail

Please write to your MP if you live in the UK and care about our traditions

You can find your MP at http://www.parliament.uk
and your MEP at
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/meps.htm

Cheers all from Hillary who has had a name mark since 1975
--

Hillary Corney

Designer Silversmith and Jeweller
http://www.designersilversmiths.com

The UK hall mark isnt just a test for quality its also has a date(year )
mark.
Not so important if you buy a hall marked piece in its year of making
BUT as time goes by, it increasingly adds value to the piece. thats more
value to the owner.
If your thinking of buying a piece of jewellery and the choice is either
a properly hall marked one or a non marked one which one would you buy?
In my mind theres no choice, it has to be the properly hall marked one.

"H. J. Corney" wrote:


So perhaps if you could educate and convince your customers of the
guarantees offered by an independent UK assay and hallmark you would have an
edge over your competition.

How so? What about the added cost of shipping the work to the UK and back and
having to clear customs twice, just to get a foreign assay and hallmark?

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

in article , Abrasha at
wrote on 31/7/03 3:01 am:

"H. J. Corney" wrote:


So perhaps if you could educate and convince your customers of the
guarantees offered by an independent UK assay and hallmark you would have an
edge over your competition.

How so? What about the added cost of shipping the work to the UK and back and
having to clear customs twice, just to get a foreign assay and hallmark?

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Hiya - I thought I would hear from you soon enough with this thread Abrasha
:-)

You would not send a single item unless it was high value it would not be
worth it. You would send a whole batch of unfinished castings probably still
with the stub of the sprue attached because the Assay office can use the
site of the sprue to sample the metal.

So the cost of postage would be spread across say one hundred items. I don't
know how much postage from the States to the UK and back is. But insured
postage from the UK to the US and back together with the cost of the Assay
would add less than a dollar per ring if you sent enough items at one go.

I don't know about American customs duty but I don't think any charges would
be made for Items that are to be re-imported.

The real question is would the average American jewellery buyer appreciate,
and pay extra, for the fact that the item had been independently tested by
an organisation with 700 years experience.

A GIA Certificate adds to the saleability of a Diamond so why shouldn't a
Hallmark add to the saleability of a ring?

Its funny I thought I would be challenged on the UK newspapers assertion
that 60% of the jewellery they tested in the US was of substandard precious
metal quality.

If that really is true then I would have thought that US jewellery customers
would be delighted to be able to buy an item which carries a hallmark.

Best wishes

Hillary

In article , Abrasha
writes:

So perhaps if you could educate and convince your customers of the
guarantees offered by an independent UK assay and hallmark you would have
an
edge over your competition.

How so? What about the added cost of shipping the work to the UK and back
and
having to clear customs twice, just to get a foreign assay and hallmark?

And, additionally, have to pay for the American (or whatever) hallmark....

Kaytee
"Simplexities" on
www.eclecticbeadery.com
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/simplexities

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 08:56:23 GMT, "H. J. Corney"
wrote:

Its funny I thought I would be challenged on the UK newspapers assertion
that 60% of the jewellery they tested in the US was of substandard precious
metal quality.

That's not what you said:

"I don't want to start a flame war but a leading UK Newspaper bought
and tested several thousand items from different shops in New York
recently and then had them independently tested. The news article
stated that 60 percent of the jewellery was found to be of
sub-standard metal quality."

1) Where did they buy? Was Tiffany included, for example, or only
little stores under the bridges?

2) Did they test to US rules or UK rules? Jewelry in the US doesn't
have to meet UK standards, the same way that jewelry in the UK doesn't
have to meet US standards.

--
Marilee J. Layman
Handmade Bali Sterling Beads at Wholesale
http://www.basicbali.com