"925 sterling silver" marks - thoughts?

Attached is a picture of one of my "worm rings" with a stamp. I'm honestly after opinions on this. When buying jewellery, does a hallmark make any difference to you? Do you trust it more if it has a mark, or does it put you off the piece?


Ring mark by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

I've now got a "925" stamp so that I can put "925" on my silver pieces. I figured that this might add some value to my jewellery as it helps signify that it is sterling silver. However I've heard a counter argument that it also could make my pieces appear more mass produced, and isn't needed.

Also, note that in the UK, "925" means nothing (legally speaking). It's not recognised as a hallmark, though internationally, Eg a lot of Europe etc, it's recognised as meaning 92.5% silver (the rest usually being copper). The issue is that anyone can stamp their work, even if it's not silver, (though that'd pretty much be fraud).This is why in the UK "proper" hallmarks are somewhat expensive as each item is tested at an assay office for purity before receiving its mark.

(The law requires silver items over 7.78g to be hallmarked if sold in the UK as sterling silver, which is why I can avoid this and just use a 925 stamp due to being much lighter than 7.78!)

I'd leave it off, and push there hand made, individual, unique etc... side instead


the mark doesn't mean much anyway (not hard to counterfeit) and means even less when it's a unique piece it's stamped into... anyone could stamp that on any crap... personally if I was looking to buy something, I'd wonder why someone was stamping stuff like this, and if maybe they're trying to hide something ?

I find it interesting that so far of all the people I've spoken to, no one seems to think it is a positive/beneficial thing!

If it were a proper hallmark, would it be more attractive to you, or would you still feel it were mass produced etc?

(Proper etsy listing detailing how its made: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/91348804/hand-crafted-sterling-silver-earth-worm?)

maybe I'm just jaded by ebay, but I don;t really trust hallmarks etc.. at all unless I'm buying from a bit shop (asda, amazon etc.)

your listing looks good, one thing I'd add is a super closeup photo... if you've got the camera kid you might as well take advantage of it!


I looked at some of your other stuff too... wow it's impressive... the chain mail shirt must have taken forever to make !!!


EDIT: I think you could charge a lot more too, especially for the cheaper (sub £10) stuff... if I was going to buy something for my g/f, I'd buy it because it would suit her and she'd like it... so the difference between spending £10 and spending £20 wouldn't even register with me, it's cheap enough that I'd buy it without looking

also.. have you thought about taking requests ?  I get that it's more of a hobby than a for profit stuff... but you can always refuse requests you don't like the sound of... and they might be quite interesting too :-)

My girlfriend makes silver jewellery but she stamps it 925. Just helps identify her silver jewellery from her other metal jewellery.

In terms of adding value I'd say it doesn't but doesn't affect it negatively either.

She collects vintage jewellery (massively so) too and doesn't care if its stamped or not.

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When have you ever seen an expensive/unique ring stamped in such a way? Imagine giving your gf a ring and it's stamped 925 inside, then she starts asking what that means... "Oh..."

Most people don't care about these stamps, all they care about is the price and if it looks pretty (especially when it's for a woman - M3ta7h3ad's gf being an exception as she's obviously into it all). It only cheapens it overall, so leave it off.

Quote from: Clock'd 0Ne on September 01, 2013, 16:23:15 PM
When have you ever seen an expensive/unique ring stamped in such a way? Imagine giving your gf a ring and it's stamped 925 inside, then she starts asking what that means... "Oh..."

Most people don't care about these stamps, all they care about is the price and if it looks pretty (especially when it's for a woman - M3ta7h3ad's gf being an exception as she's obviously into it all). It only cheapens it overall, so leave it off.

The majority of expensive (weighty) silver rings I've seen in jewellers are indeed stamped, expensive ones come assay marked but its your own taste.

Example: Clogau's silver rings are marked in that way http://www.clogau.co.uk/Hallmark.aspx

The stamp isn't seen by anyone when the ring is on so not exactly a big deal either way.

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Clogaus rings would be halmmarked though as they're gold, which legally needs to be hallmarked above 1 gram.

I get the impression that unless something is worth a LOT, IE, posh jewellers shop prices, and the mark is legally required (lightweight silver ring etc) it's porbably best left off.

I can't see that a proper hallmark (not 925, but the assay office+makers mark) would be a bad thing. These are expensive though (relatively speaking...if you get things done in bulk it's probably £2-6 each) so if you have a ring for sale at £100+, it's a small fraction of the total material cost, but offers a bit of reassurance. A proper hallmark is the kind of thing you can advertise?

colgau stamp would prove authenticity as well. Colgau gold contains small amount of Welsh gold. Welsh gold is valuable because it is rare as well as being of high quality.