The following is a guide to what certain marks mean on jewelry to help you in understanding what you are buying or what you can say in selling an item. You can’t say an item may be or I think it is when it comes to products of Gold and Silver. Federal law regulates how things are marked and advertised. I am not a lawyer but have listed the law for you to read the determine yourself or have your lawyer read it for you. The jewelry industry also has an internal group to oversee that jewelers meet the law requirement and work closely with law enforcement to make sure the public is not cheated. I have broken this down into categories by metals to help you and show what the hallmarks are for the category. Silver- Sterling Silver is composed of 92.5 pure silver and 7.5% of copper. Hallmarks – STERLING, STER., 925, 92.5, .925In the UK a stamp of a side view of a Lion, argent, argent sterling. Britannia silver is purer than sterling, at least 95.84% silver and up to 4.16% copper. Its marks were Britannia and a lion's head in profile. Mexican silver is also purer than sterling, usually 95% Silver and 5% Copper. One of the more common marks is “TAXCO 980” American Coin silver is most commonly 90% silver and 10% copper Hallmark 900, COIN European Coin Silver – AKA German Silver, which is 80% silver and 20%. Hallmark 800 (You have to very careful because the term German silver is also used to describe nickel silver, which has no silver in it but rather is a mix of Nickel and Copper, sometimes zinc is added. Gold – Pure gold is 24 karat gold. Each karat is 1/24th of the total of pure gold so 14 karat gold is 14 parts gold 10 parts something else. Common karats for gold are: 9k – Used in the UK and not permitted in the USA. 10k – lowest allowed item than can be called Gold in the USA 14k – The most common karat of gold sold in the USA 18k – This starts to get soft and expensive. In France an Eagle head is the mark for 18k gold. 22k – Used in foreign countries where people view gold more as money and a safety measure, too soft for everyday wear of jewelry. 24k – also called 999 fine. This is what is considered pure gold and found only in bars or coins used for money or back up money. Gold filled- This is where people get into trouble. An item that is gold filled is usually brass that has a thin layer of gold pressed onto the surface. For example an item marked 10K 1/20 GF means that the item has 10 karat gold for 1/20th of its total weight. You are not permitted to sell this as “gold” you must state that it is gold filled in any advertisement of the item. Sometimes you may find an older item that is marked 10k 1/10GF which means 1/10 of the weight is gold. Gold Rolled – This is even thinner made the same way gold filled is made by pressing a layer of gold onto the brass surface. Usually it is 1/40 of the weight in gold and marked 1/40 10K R.G.P. Gold Plated – There is no thickness requirement and items are usually not marked but can be marked GEP Vermeil This is another form of gold plating but the base metal is sterling silver. Hallmarks; vermeil or vermil, they may also only have a sterling mark. Platinum 95 percent platinum, 95 percent platinum and iridium, or 95 percent platinum and ruthenium Palladium 95 percent palladium, or 90 percent palladium and 5 percent platinum, iridium, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium or gold Hallmarks: platinum, plat., platine, palladium, pal This is just a small example of the various marks. Many more exist and a good site to see more of them is http://www.modernsilver.com/basichallmarks.htm But please remember don’t get into trouble by saying I think its silver, it feels like gold. Not sure you may want to read the law that covers this, please go to http://www.925-1000.com/a_StampingAct1906.html Also the law does carry a fine up to $5000.00.