Fineness mark
A fineness stamp is a special hallmark and is used to indicate the fineness in thousands of pieces of jewelry , watches , secular and sacred equipment .
The word describes the tool with which the stamp is applied on the one hand, and the stamp imprint (the punch) itself on the other. There are two main forms of stamping tool: the straight form and the knee form. The latter is used for the inner stamping of ring rails.
General
The use of the hallmark is not reserved for jewelry manufacturers and goldsmiths . Rather, every citizen in Germany can mark jewelry with a fineness mark within the framework of the legal regulations. The specification of the fineness on the device is reserved exclusively for companies. The specification of the fineness is not required by law. If it does, however, it must be done in accordance with the law on the fineness of gold and silver goods. According to this, only gold and silver devices may additionally bear the sun symbol or the crescent moon as well as the imperial crown and the company logo. Golden devices must have a minimum fineness of 585 thousand parts and silver devices a minimum fineness of 800 thousand parts. Watch cases and jewelry may only be provided with the fineness in parts by the thousand. Here the legislature seems to tolerate different practices, since manufacturers have also provided jewelry with the master's / company mark and the chemical abbreviations (Au, Pt, Pd, etc.) for decades. In addition, there are no legal regulations in Germany regarding the stamping of platinum or palladium jewelry .
In Austria, the rules of the Hallmarking Act apply: According to this, precious metal objects produced or offered for sale in Austria must usually have a fineness number that indicates the fineness. The fineness number is also called the fineness mark, it must be clearly visible and easily recognizable. Attachment by means of laser punching is permitted. Anyone who manufactures precious metal objects must register with the tax authorities.
Manufacturing
The fineness stamps are made of tool steel. While the three-digit number was usually engraved by steel engravers in the past , today's fineness stamps are made by machine ( milling , laser , matrices or EDM ). The high quality of steel engravers is only still in demand for individual shapes such as master's marks, company names and company symbols. In addition, mainly simple symbols were and are made by the goldsmiths themselves. The font height varies between 0.3 millimeters up to several millimeters.
handling
It is easy to use: the fineness stamp is placed on the desired location of the piece to be stamped, and the fineness number is transferred to the material with a blow of the hammer on its end. The depth of penetration depends on the actual shape, the energy used, the material to be stamped and the underlying substrate (steel, wood).
In addition, in the case of very soft alloys or sensitive shapes, the punches are also pressed into the workpiece surfaces by hand.
development
Stamp pliers and mechanical-hydraulic stamping machines were developed from these simple shapes, with which different fineness and (company) symbols can be stamped using different (stamp) inserts.
See also
Web links
- Law on the fineness of gold and silver goods
- Pages with examples: German Silver Marks before and after 1886 and Hallmarks of German Silver 19th and 20th Century
Individual evidence
- ↑ as in § 23 paragraph 1 number 1 of the Hallmarking Act.
- ↑ Federal Act on the Hallmarking and Control of Precious Metal Objects (Hallmarking Act 2000), Austrian Federal Law Gazette I No. 24/2001 as amended in Federal Law Gazette I No. 26/2004. In the legal information system RIS .