How to describe silver and gold jewelry

How to legally describe silver-and-gold jewelry

For centuries, both law and tradition have required that goldsmiths accurately describe their products.

Hallmarking precious metals, possibly the oldest form of consumer protection, was first developed to verify gold and silver content in coins, and soon became standard practice for jewelry as well.

Today, while the physical stamping of jewelry is not required in the United States, descriptions that are provided by the seller must be precise, and not just when it comes to karat fineness. If it is not possible to visually distinguish between separate precious metals in the same item, then the amount of one metal, relative to other metals in the item, must also be disclosed.

A quick Web search of mixed-precious metal products--in this case, gold and silver--reveals that the rules on how to describe precious metal content in fine jewelry are not always followed. Besides being unfair to jewelers who follow industry regulations, the inconsistencies hurt consumer confidence.

Two ads that raise questions

To illustrate this issue, let's consider two fictitious online jewelry ads (the Jewelers Vigilance Committee loosely based the ads described below on actual cases, with details drawn from a series of cases to illustrate a point).

The first ad reads as follows: "14k Gold-Over-Sterling Silver 1-ct T.W. Diamond Tennis Bracelet." The photo accompanying the ad showed a bracelet, all gold in color, set with small diamonds. Clicking on the ad brings the viewer to a page with a larger picture of the bracelet and several product details. Under "metal information," the details include the weight, length and finish of the bracelet, but no further information about the precious-metal content.

The second ad, for an "18K Yellow Gold and Sterling Silver Heart Necklace," features a photo of a necklace, part gold and part silver in color, but predominantly silver.

The two metals are clearly distinguishable, with the silver appearing to represent about three-fourths of the total content of the piece. Once again, clicking on the ad produces a larger picture and product details, including a description of the type of clasp, country of origin and the adjustable lengths of the chain, but nothing further about the precious-metal content.

The law on combining gold and silver

In the instance of the tennis bracelet ad, the two metals--gold and silver-were visually indistinguishable, as the gold covered the silver throughout the bracelet.

In cases such as this, according to both industry tradition and the Federal Trade Commission's guidelines for the industry, the jeweler must disclose the amount of gold, using a fraction to show that amount in relation to the total weight of the metal in the piece. The karat quality of the gold must also be disclosed. For example, if the metal in the bracelet weighed 10 grams in total and the gold content of the bracelet accounted for 2 of the 10 grams, or one-fifth of the total weight, the bracelet should be described as follows: "Sterling silver 1/5 14K."

In the second instance, concerning the heart necklace, a fractional weight disclosure regarding the gold is not required, as long as the gold portion of the piece is gold throughout. This makes sense, since the consumer can actually see the ratio of gold to silver in the item. The rule in cases such as this, based on industry tradition, is that the metal-fineness description must begin with the predominant metal, as follows: "Sterling Silver 18KY." Of course, if the predominant metal in an item was gold-not silver-than the description could appropriately be reversed, to read "18KY Sterling Silver."

A word about stamping

As previously stated, in the United States, it is not necessary for manufacturers to stamp a jewelry item with the karat fineness of the precious metal in the item. Nonetheless, the karatage of the jewelry must be identified, and if it is not stamped on the piece itself then it must appear on an invoice, hangtag or other descriptive material accompanying the jewelry.

The laws relating to the stamping of precious metals appear in the National Gold and Silver Stamping Act.

If a company does stamp its products with a quality mark, then it must also apply its registered trademark. Although it is usually the manufacturer that applies its own trademark, some parties agree that the retailer's mark should be stamped into the jewelry instead.

In either case, the trademark tells the buyer who it may hold responsible for the representation about karat quality. The party owning the trademark will be held liable if the actual quality of the metal deviates from the identification appearing on the stamp.

Resolving the ad cases

JVC alerted the jewelers to the advertising errors encountered on their Web sites. They agreed to make the requested corrections and--just as importantly--they agreed to ensure that their companies' online marketers were properly trained in the laws that govern the industry.

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