What are the hallmarks on silver?

In its original state, natural silver is a rather fragile material. To strengthen it, various ligature additives, which should correspond to the generally accepted system of percentage. The system indicating the composition of a precious alloy is called approbation, and itself the test is applied to the silver item in the form of a stamp. Craftsmen working with precious metal cannot independently put samples, and in order to exclude the appearance of fakes, the stamp on finished products is placed only in State Assay Office.

All silver items are marked with numbers and letters. And if jewelry masters of past centuries marked their products, applying full information on them, including the name of the master, the value of the product, the date of its manufacture, then the modern stamp on silver has very miniature dimensions, and it can be read only with the use of special enlarging devices.

The marking of products made of precious silver alloys has its own history and stages of formation.... And in each country it happened in its own way. According to historical data, in Russia the decree on the first stamping of precious metals is dated 1613 year. According to the Tsar's decree, all Russian jewelers were obliged to make a silver alloy, the composition of which repeated the ligature of a foreign coin - thaler. In the thaler, the content of pure silver was at least 93%. The marking of silver was carried out by specially authorized assayers, so the brand soon became known as a test. The brand itself looked like circle with three letters "Є? Ќ", and it was in use for 1697 year.

The next tsarist decree on the norms of probing in Russia has already been adopted in 1896, when the territory of the state was divided into 11 districts, each of which had its own stamp for silver... Jewelers working at the royal court were allowed to mark silver items with the stamp on which was depicted royal coat of arms.

Beginning with 1899 year, a single brand was approved in the form of a female head with a kokoshnik, the profile of the head was turned to the right, and already in 1908 the brand was changed again, and the profile of the image began to look to the left. At the same time, the brand was added cipher assay office in the form of a Greek letter.

From the beginning of the first stamping on a silver product and up to the present day, the type of marking has undergone more than a dozen changes. Existed officially recognized hallmarking table, but not all types of markings were included in it. Until our time, only the most common specimens have survived, the rest have been irretrievably lost.

In the modern world, the brand is mandatory for several types of silver.

• Alloy 800 - it contains at least 80% silver and 20% ligatures in the form of copper. Such a composition is susceptible to rapid oxidation and, as a result, darkening.

• Alloy 875 - the composition contains at least 87.5% of noble silver. This material is most often used for the manufacture of jewelry and cutlery.

• Alloy 925 - consists of 92.5% silver, is resistant to corrosion, does not have a straw-yellow tint and lends itself well to forming during the manufacture of products. The alloy is used for the production of jewelry.

• Alloy 960 - contains at least 96% silver and is used in highly artistic products with enamel, as well as for the production of expensive jewelry.

Depending on the percentage composition of the silver metal alloy, its characteristics, as well as the appearance of finished products.

After a single stamp was adopted in tsarist Russia in 1899 for marking silver, its modifications did not end there. And the old mark was renewed several more times.

• 1908 year - in all districts on the territory of Russia, pre-revolutionary craftsmen had to mark their products with a new stigma. It looked like a female profile decorated with a kokoshnik. The profile of the female head looked to the right, and the sample itself was indicated in those ancient times as a golden sample.

• 1927 year - after the overthrow of the tsarist regime, the sample for silver also changed. Now the female profile has been replaced with the head of a worker wearing a cap and a hammer has been added. Samples were indicated no longer in the spool, but in the metric system. The assay office code was still designated by the Greek letter.

• 1958 year - on the territory of the USSR, a new stigma for marking silver was reintroduced. It contained an image of a hammer and sickle, which were placed in the center of a large five-pointed star. The assay office code was already indicated by the capital letter of the Cyrillic alphabet.

• 1994 year - after the collapse of the USSR, Soviet silver items began to be labeled as we can see it now on any jewelry made of noble metal. The silver sample contains an indication of the composition of the alloy in the metric system.

According to the laws in force in our country, all silver items, without exception, must be marked with a sample.

In addition to the test, they also put on silver items nameplate. Any manufacturer - public or private - must have its own name stamp. Thus, on the product you will see a sample indicating the composition of the alloy, and a nameplate indicating who the product was produced by. The nameplate contains the manufacturer's digital cipher, and it changes every year. All names must be registered with probing authorities, so there cannot be two identical names from different manufacturers. In total, there are 18 assay offices operating in Russia, and each of them has its own letter in the form of an encrypted marking designation.

There are 2 systems for measuring the composition of a silver alloy: carat and metric.... Most European and Asian countries use both carat and metric systems. These include France, Germany, Italy, England, Australia, Denmark, USA, Canada and others... Pure silver is taken for 24 carats, and in order to translate this into the metric system, the formula is used: the sample in carats must be multiplied by the metric sample and the result must be divided by 1000.

The first stamp officially registered on the territory of the Kingdom of England was under King Edward I - in 1300. British silverware, containing 92.5% silver, was marked with a leopard head stamp.

In Germany the mention of silver marking dates back to 1289 year. According to the royal decree, German silver was marked not only with the fineness, but also with the personal stamp of the master who made the product. The standard for quality silver in Germany at that time was an alloy with a noble metal content of at least 80%. The brand looked like a crescent moon unfolded to the right and a crown of the royal dynasty.

In France after the revolution of 1789, alloys with a pure metal content of up to 95% and 80% were the standard for silver. The first stamp on French silver was applied in the form of a rooster (a symbol of revolution) and the numbers 1 or 2 (that is, 95% or 80% silver content). Modern stamp impressions now look different - they contain an image Minerva.

Swedish products made of silver were marked with an imprint of three crowns and a stamp with the letter S, meaning that the alloy contains 83% silver. A Dutch until 1698, a round stamp with the inscription "lion" was used for branding.

Branding silver products could not always protect against counterfeiting... Often at overseas auctions in Europe you can see lots of silver items marked by the Faberge workshop. Since the products of the jewelry company were in high demand and had worldwide fame, foreign jewelers were eagerly engaged in the creation of counterfeits, putting them up for sale at a high price. The stigma of the famous mother Carl Faberge began to be forged during his lifetime.

Currently, silver is stamped in several ways.

• Impact Marking - the stamp is knocked out on the finished product. Now this process is carried out automatically with the help of a press, while earlier this process was carried out manually.

• Electrospark method - the stamp is burned out on the surface of the silver with the help of a special electrical device, while the pattern is obtained as a single chain. The process itself is similar to the one that is performed when engraving metal in a souvenir shop - the essence of the process is the same.

• Laser branding - performed when using engraving. The markings on the product are neat, but unobtrusive, and can only be viewed with the help of special magnifying devices in the form of a jewelry loupe.

All 3 methods of marking are used in certain situations. For example, gentle laser branding is performed on a hollow product, since the impact method of stamping could destroy its integrity.

In this case, the product will be delivered 2 hallmarks: the first will show what material it is made of and its composition, and the second will indicate the composition of the coating alloy.It also happens that the precious metal is contained only in the coating, while the base of the product is made, for example, of cupronickel, aluminum or stainless steel. In this case, there will be only one stamp with a test, and a stamp with letters will show the base material (MN - cupronickel, AL - aluminum, NERZh - stainless steel, etc.). When buying such products, you should be careful and be able to read the brand, so as not to unknowingly purchase silver-plated cutlery or jewelry at the price of silver (with high purity and value).

It is rather difficult to visually distinguish natural 925 sterling silver from similar metal alloys, but it is quite possible.

At home, you can also determine the authenticity of silver and distinguish it from a fake. This can be done in several simple ways.

1. If you bring an ordinary magnet to the surface of a silver product, then the metal will not magnetize, since natural silver does not have such properties.
2. Hold the silver item in your hands for a while, and you will notice that it heats up very quickly, which cannot be said about other metal alloys - they will remain cold or change their temperature only slightly. Silver has a high degree of thermal conductivity, so it quickly becomes warm from your hands.
3. If you take a pharmacy sulfuric ointment and apply it on silver, then after a few hours this place will darken. So silver comes into contact with sulfur, which is manifested by an oxidative reaction. Stainless steel products, for example, will remain consistently shiny after such an experience.
4. A small drop of iodine will help bring out natural silver. Silver turns black from contact with iodine, and nothing can be removed from the stain. Other metal alloys do not react like this to iodine.
5. The simplest and most affordable method is to test silver with chalk. If you rub the surface of silver with chalk powder, an oxidative reaction will begin, and the silver will first begin to grow cloudy, and then completely darken - this will be an indicator that there is a silver item in front of you.

If you have a serious expensive purchase of a large batch or valuable jewelry, to determine the authenticity of the material from which these items are made, you can invite a specialist who is well versed in this matter as an expert.

How to check the authenticity of silver at home, see the following video.