Hallmarks on gold and silver

Fineness Mark

Gold Marks: In Finland, the most common gold finenesses are 585 (14 karats) and 750 (18 karats). The rest of the piece is made of alloy metals, usually silver and copper. The mark is usually hidden in a fairly inconspicuous place. Gold jewelry purchased abroad may lack a fineness mark entirely, or the gold fineness may be indicated by a karat abbreviation, for example, 14k or 18k. A gold-colored piece of jewelry may have finenesses familiar from silver marks, such as 925 or 830. In that case, the item is not gold but a gold-plated silver item. Gold marks remain the same whether it is yellow or white gold.

Silver Marks: The fineness of silver is indicated in parts per thousand. For example, an item with a silver fineness of 925 parts per thousand means that 92.5% of the alloy is pure silver. The mark is usually hidden in a fairly inconspicuous place. In Finland, the fineness mark is always a 3-digit number. A silver item purchased abroad may be marked only with the text "sterling". Sterling silver has a fineness of 925. In Finland, the most typical silver fineness for new jewelry is 925. In older domestic silver, the fineness was typically 813 and 830.

Maker's Mark

The maker's mark indicates who made the item. The image shows different versions of Kalevala Koru's maker's mark. Nowadays, maker's marks consist of a combination of three letters, for example, Caratia's maker's mark is CAR. If a company has registered a so-called pictorial mark before the change in regulations, the company may still use the pictorial mark in the production of new jewelry.

Design Mark: The design mark identifies the designer of the product. The design mark usually contains the designer's or maker's initials or full name. The mark is often located at the end of the series of marks. However, not all designers signed their jewelry, e.g., Elis Kauppi, who served as the artistic director and designer of Kupittaan Kulta.

Assay Mark

The easiest way to identify the country of origin of an item is by its assay mark. The assay mark, indicating the authenticity of the precious metal, is an important element in the precious metal trade. The Finnish assay mark is a heart-shaped crown mark. With the crown mark, one can be sure that a testing institute approved by TUKES has examined the product. The Swedish mark is a "cat's paw" with three crowns inside.

Town Mark

There are different versions of town marks, depending on the year the item was made. The image shows the mark of Turku, which is a stylized letter Å. The town mark of Helsinki resembles the coat of arms of the city of Helsinki.

Date Letter

The combination of a letter and a number in the date letter reveals the year the item was made. The mark in the image is from 1973. Domestic jewelry made of gold, platinum, and palladium usually has a date letter.

 

You can find more information about marks, for example, on the KultaRahaksi website.