Worldly Goods clothing buttons, silver charms, clasps, sewing buttons & sterling silver buttons. We're a wholesale company that provides buttons, jewelry components & collectables to the trade.

The first law regulating the stamping of silver products was enacted by the Massachusetts legislature in 1894 followed by several other states before the National Stamping Act was passed by Congress in 1906 and put into effect in June 13, 1907. This law, enhanced and amended several times over the years, provides the basis for regulating the marking and stamping of silver products.

Sterling Silver is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper.  Sterling components and jewelry made in the USA are often stamped Sterling.  Goods made for international trade are often marked .925 indicating 92.5% fineness.

The 1906 act required that any product marked "sterling" or "coin" must contain 925 per 1000 parts pure silver for "sterling" and 900 per 1000 parts pure silver for "coin" silver, permitting a divergence of only 4 parts per 1000 from this standard.  An amendment in 1961 required also the maker's trademark to be stamped next to the silver standard mark.

Mexican Silver,  German Silver,  Indian Silver,  Montana Silver, or simply Silver do not guarantee any silver content.  German Silver is another name for the alloy of Copper, Nickel and Zinc usually called Nickel Silver.  Nickel Silver contains no silver.

In many countries, precious metal must be stamped with a quality mark such as .925 for sterling.  Some countries require that jewelry of precious metal be submitted to a governmental assay office for appropriate testing before being marked and sold.

In the USA, The National Gold and Silver Marketing Act  DOES NOT require precious metals to be marked with quality.  However, if a quality mark is used, the National Stamping Act, as amended, not only requires  the use of trademarks, but also specifically requires the registration of such a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).  In spite of the law, many regularly used marks on American jewelry are not yet registered trademarks.

For many reasons, not all silver jewelry is marked.  Registering a trademark with the U.S. Government is expensive and requires ongoing vigilance to ensure that the trademark is not misappropriated. 

Additionally, as in the case of many of our pieces, the sizes or designs of some pieces do not lend themselves to quality marking. Findings and components are often not quality stamped.

Basically:
 
1.  US Federal law does not require precious metal to be marked with a quality stamp.

2.  Some European countries DO require marking.  

3.  If goods are quality marked, US law requires a maker's mark in the form of a hallmark or registered trademark in addition to the quality mark.

Sterling Silver is very easy to test.  Silver plated brass, nickel silver or low quality silver alloys will turn green when a drop of Nitric acid is applied. Sterling will turn a creamy color.  Testing kits made specifically to test sterling silver are available from many jewelry supply companies.

We guarantee our sterling silver products.  They are solid sterling silver and are not plated or lacquered.  Our casting company is located in the United States and all casting and finishing of our products is done in the United States.  At this time, our sterling silver products are not marked because of the requirements outlined above. 

The above Federal information can be viewed online at:   http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.htm

Please contact us if you have any additional questions.