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ALP ITALY mark?
Hi, everyone.
Would someone please inform me what this "ALP ITALY" mark is? I searced the Web a little and didn't find much, but I don't know the best sites to search anyway. I found the stamp on the back of some silver jewelry I bought at some recent estate sales. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you ever so much. Jenny |
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"Jenny" wrote in message ... Hi, everyone. Would someone please inform me what this "ALP ITALY" mark is? I searced the Web a little and didn't find much, but I don't know the best sites to search anyway. I found the stamp on the back of some silver jewelry I bought at some recent estate sales. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you ever so much. I once mentioned to someone from the assay office in Birmingham that I was thinking of importing some silver jewellery from Italy and if the marks were consistent and legal in the UK. I've never seen anyone from the assay office cry before... Italian marks are best described as 'of variable quality'. -- William Black I've seen things you people wouldn't believe Barbeques on fire by chalets past the headland I've watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off Newborough All this will pass like ice-cream on the beach Time for tea |
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Jenny wrote:
Hi, everyone. Would someone please inform me what this "ALP ITALY" mark is? I searced the Web a little and didn't find much, but I don't know the best sites to search anyway. I found the stamp on the back of some silver jewelry I bought at some recent estate sales. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you ever so much. Jenny "ALP" may stand for "Alpacca", which is a common trade name for a nickel silver alloy. http://pages.zoom.co.uk/leveridge/nickel1.html -- Abrasha http://www.abrasha.com |
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"Abrasha" wrote in message
... Jenny wrote: Hi, everyone. Would someone please inform me what this "ALP ITALY" mark is? I searced the Web a little and didn't find much, but I don't know the best sites to search anyway. I found the stamp on the back of some silver jewelry I bought at some recent estate sales. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you ever so much. Jenny "ALP" may stand for "Alpacca", which is a common trade name for a nickel silver alloy. http://pages.zoom.co.uk/leveridge/nickel1.html -- Abrasha http://www.abrasha.com That was very informative. Further researching the originator of the term was also enlightening. It's clear now ALP means nickel-silver. So... does nickel silver have different cleaning and care processes than sterling? Thanks. Jenny |
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Jenny wrote:
Hi, everyone. Would someone please inform me what this "ALP ITALY" mark is? I searced the Web a little and didn't find much, but I don't know the best sites to search anyway. I found the stamp on the back of some silver jewelry I bought at some recent estate sales. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you ever so much. Jenny Hi Jenny, As Abrasha said, Alp is an abbreviation for alpacca, which is another name for nickel brass. Usually about 5 to 10% instead of the zinc element in the alloy. However you say you bought some jewellery in an estate sale , how was it actually described? in the catalogue? because jewellery thats silver coloured!! could be made of any white or even other coloured metal silver plated. Its also highly unusual for jewellery to be made from nickel brass, its much harder than other white non ferrous alloys and more expensive it being mainly used as the base for silver plated table ware ie cutlery. Can you describe or post an image of the jewellery somewhere? so we can see it? the other way to help you identify what its made of is to polish up the back of the jewelley piece to show the true colour and then to comp[are it to a polished "sterling" silver item. If youve reasonable colour vision youll immediately tell the difference. The N Brass will have a distinctly yellow tinge. Apart from its artistic value to you, as metal its relatively worthless. It depends how far you plan to persue your enquiries, the quickest way to find out is to take it to a working silversmith who just by the feel of the metal will be able to tell you what it is. If you give 2 similar size and thickness say table forks or spoons to such a smith one being sterling silver the other nickel brass or alpacca, he will be able to tell which is which without lookling at them, just by the way it reasponds in the hand. Let us know how you get on with this. Ted Frater. |
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"Ted Frater" wrote in message ... Jenny wrote: Hi, everyone. Would someone please inform me what this "ALP ITALY" mark is? I searced the Web a little and didn't find much, but I don't know the best sites to search anyway. I found the stamp on the back of some silver jewelry I bought at some recent estate sales. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you ever so much. Jenny Hi Jenny, As Abrasha said, Alp is an abbreviation for alpacca, which is another name for nickel brass. Usually about 5 to 10% instead of the zinc element in the alloy. However you say you bought some jewellery in an estate sale , how was it actually described? in the catalogue? because jewellery thats silver coloured!! could be made of any white or even other coloured metal silver plated. Its also highly unusual for jewellery to be made from nickel brass, its much harder than other white non ferrous alloys and more expensive it being mainly used as the base for silver plated table ware ie cutlery. Can you describe or post an image of the jewellery somewhere? so we can see it? the other way to help you identify what its made of is to polish up the back of the jewelley piece to show the true colour and then to comp[are it to a polished "sterling" silver item. If youve reasonable colour vision youll immediately tell the difference. The N Brass will have a distinctly yellow tinge. Apart from its artistic value to you, as metal its relatively worthless. It depends how far you plan to persue your enquiries, the quickest way to find out is to take it to a working silversmith who just by the feel of the metal will be able to tell you what it is. If you give 2 similar size and thickness say table forks or spoons to such a smith one being sterling silver the other nickel brass or alpacca, he will be able to tell which is which without lookling at them, just by the way it reasponds in the hand. Let us know how you get on with this. Ted Frater. The piece I'm talking about is a wide bracelet. It didn't have a written description, but I like the look of it, and it was so inexpensive, I didn't bother asking about the metal. It appears to be old and has 4 curved panels hinged together to make the circumferance. The width is just over an inch. Each panel has a large blue stone with ornate "silver" sculpting around the stone. The stone looks to be tourquoise. All 4 panels are designed the same. Before posting here, I had tried silver polish and got the yellow discoloration that you described. Thanks for your help. Jenny |
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