How common is it for silver to not have a makers mark?
THANKS
Jeff
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Makers mark?
No country
No country in mind. Just a general question.
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Most European countries require a maker's mark as part of their marking laws. In the US, a similar law has been around since the 1890's. However in the US there is no guild hall system or any other legal entity that oversees the process, therefore many handcrafters and students forgo a maker's mark.
The haphazard process in the States has let to there being quite a few pieces on the "Estate" market which simply have quality stamps but no maker's mark. I have always tested each piece as it comes in to make sure the quality stamp and the metal content match. Usually it does, but I have a small collection of pieces (not for sale) where someone applied the wrong stamp (how is that for being nicely worded). While these pieces usually fall well shy of the quality of the stamping ( I have stering stamps on both pewter pieces and a copper bowl) on rare occasion I have found the opposite has happened (a platinum ring marked 14Kt, which I know was reshanked and suspect the repairer had no platinum stamp).
Hopefully someone will chime in with info about Asia and Africa.
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The haphazard process in the States has let to there being quite a few pieces on the "Estate" market which simply have quality stamps but no maker's mark. I have always tested each piece as it comes in to make sure the quality stamp and the metal content match. Usually it does, but I have a small collection of pieces (not for sale) where someone applied the wrong stamp (how is that for being nicely worded). While these pieces usually fall well shy of the quality of the stamping ( I have stering stamps on both pewter pieces and a copper bowl) on rare occasion I have found the opposite has happened (a platinum ring marked 14Kt, which I know was reshanked and suspect the repairer had no platinum stamp).
Hopefully someone will chime in with info about Asia and Africa.
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dragonflywink
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Being a souvenir spoon collector, I've seen quite a few American silver pieces simply marked "Sterling" without a manufacturer's trademark, have also run across quite a few holloware and pattern flatware pieces without maker's marks over the years. And have seen quite a bit of silver from other countries with only numeric fineness or just the quality guarantee marks.
Fairly common misconception that U.S. silver is required to be marked, and it wouldn't really make much sense for a silver manufacturer to leave their product unmarked if made of solid silver rather than plated, but there is no legal requirement in the U.S. that silver be marked "Sterling", "Coin", etc. - only that if marked for quality it must be at least 925/1000 fineness for sterling or 900/1000 for coin. There was also a 1961 amendment to the National Stamping Act of 1906 that required the use of a registered manufacturer's trademark if a fineness mark was used.
Aside from the not particularly uncommon unmarked American coin silver, some later solid silver is occasionally totally unmarked, for instance, Native American silver was almost always unmarked prior to the 1940s and quality marks only came into common use in the 1960s-70s. Some artisan created jewelry is left unmarked, I have two pairs of earrings by a local artist, though both are sterling, only one pair is marked, made after she registered her mark and had stamps made (her display cards noted the materials).
The easy availability of quality marking stamps always leaves the possibility of "someone applying the wrong stamp" (heh, that was nicely worded), but don't believe it happens very often. Have seen quite a few pieces of coin silver with proper maker's marks, marked at some later date with a "Sterling" stamp. After testing, my jeweler offered to mark an 1880s Gorham Delhi demitasse spoon that bears marks used only on solid silver, along with a date mark, but no "Sterling" (every demi spoon in this pattern seems to be the same) - I declined the offer.
http://www.925-1000.com/a_StampingAct1906.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
~Cheryl
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Fairly common misconception that U.S. silver is required to be marked, and it wouldn't really make much sense for a silver manufacturer to leave their product unmarked if made of solid silver rather than plated, but there is no legal requirement in the U.S. that silver be marked "Sterling", "Coin", etc. - only that if marked for quality it must be at least 925/1000 fineness for sterling or 900/1000 for coin. There was also a 1961 amendment to the National Stamping Act of 1906 that required the use of a registered manufacturer's trademark if a fineness mark was used.
Aside from the not particularly uncommon unmarked American coin silver, some later solid silver is occasionally totally unmarked, for instance, Native American silver was almost always unmarked prior to the 1940s and quality marks only came into common use in the 1960s-70s. Some artisan created jewelry is left unmarked, I have two pairs of earrings by a local artist, though both are sterling, only one pair is marked, made after she registered her mark and had stamps made (her display cards noted the materials).
The easy availability of quality marking stamps always leaves the possibility of "someone applying the wrong stamp" (heh, that was nicely worded), but don't believe it happens very often. Have seen quite a few pieces of coin silver with proper maker's marks, marked at some later date with a "Sterling" stamp. After testing, my jeweler offered to mark an 1880s Gorham Delhi demitasse spoon that bears marks used only on solid silver, along with a date mark, but no "Sterling" (every demi spoon in this pattern seems to be the same) - I declined the offer.
http://www.925-1000.com/a_StampingAct1906.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
~Cheryl
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