Hello , 35 years at the bench and you see something new ! A customer
brought in a braclet for a replacement clasp , It looked like 14k
white gold , machine made. When installing the new clasp I noted the
quality stamp of .835 the old clasp was stamped the same . When the
customer picked it up I asked her about it . She was from Germany
and was a master goldsmith who hadn’t worked at the bench for over
20 yrs. , the braclet had come from Germany , she had thought all
this time that it was silver .[!] She was happy with the 14k white
clasp , the piece was to be given as a gift so we couldn’t test
… Now .835 would be related to 20k gold , the same way as
.585 is to 14k but I’ve never seen or read of 20k white in
commercialy manufactured jewelry. Just the same low silver is
marked at the even 100’s [ 800 , 900 , ] Any one else know about this
??
Hello mark 835 is what we mark as second grade silver 835/1000 when
we do not want hallmark jewelry Hallmarking is bringing extra costs
and a lot of customers do feel the need for it.
So it was probably silver with a thick gold plating
greetings Martin Niemeijer N design Molenkreek 23 8032 JK Zwolle
Netherlands @Martin_Niemeijer2 +31 (0)38 4539203
+31 (0)6 51831576
she had thought all this time that it was silver .[!] ....
Just the same low silver is marked at the even 100's [ 800 , 900 ,
] Any one else know about this ??
Mark, .835 is ALSO one of the standards for silver one finds in
parts of europe, I believe… Without testing your piece, it’s
difficult to tell much. Could it also have been rhodium plated?
That would hide the silver’s telltale color and tarnish… IF it’s
white gold near to 20K, I’d expect you to be quickly aware of that
fact by the heft of the piece, which would be near to double that
you’d expect for the thing in a silver alloy…
In Europe a silver alloy of .835 is very common, as is .925. You
stated that you couldn’t test, which would help solve the question.
Maybe the base metal is .835 silver with a 14k coating which is very
common as well (Vermeil), although mostly used with yellow gold.
Another explanation could be that someone messed up during marking
the piece. There are many examples of strange essay-office errors,
which make the study of these so interesting.
The .835 for white gold is not common, .833 however is used at
times.