Reference
Glossary of gold and silver terms
The trade has a word for everything and none of them is explained on the label. This page explains 90 of them, each in a few plain sentences: what the marks mean, what the constructions are called, what a coin dealer is looking at, the handful of probate words an executor runs into, and the words used for each step of a sale here. Where a term has a guide of its own, the definition points to it.
You do not need to know what it is called to ask.
0-9
- 9ct gold
- Gold alloy of 375 fineness, which is 9 parts gold in 24, or 37.5 per cent gold. It is the commonest UK jewellery standard and the lowest UK approved fineness for gold.
- 14ct gold
- Gold alloy of 585 fineness, which is 14 parts gold in 24. It is common in continental European and American jewellery, often stamped 585 or 14K, and is a UK approved fineness.
- 18ct gold
- Gold alloy of 750 fineness, which is 18 parts gold in 24, or 75 per cent gold. It is the usual standard for fine jewellery and is stamped 750 or 18K where it is not hallmarked.
- 22ct gold
- Gold alloy of 916 fineness, which is 22 parts gold in 24. It is used for sovereigns, Krugerrands and much South Asian and Middle Eastern jewellery. The hallmark reads 916 and the standard behind it is 916.6, while coin specifications quote 916.66 or 916.7.
- 24ct gold
- Pure gold, marked 999 or 999.9. It is too soft for most jewellery and is the standard for bullion bars and modern bullion coins such as the Britannia.
A
- Acid test (touchstone test)
- A traditional test in which an item is rubbed on a touchstone and the streak is treated with test acids of known strength (nitric acid, and nitric and hydrochloric mixtures for higher carats). The reaction gives an approximate fineness for the metal the streak came from. It is quick, but it leaves a small mark and reads only the surface, so on a plated piece it reads the plating. It is one of the methods described on the testing page and is used only with the owner's written permission. Do not try it at home on anything you may want to keep.
- Alloy
- A mixture of metals. Almost nothing made to be worn is pure: gold is alloyed with silver, copper, zinc, palladium or nickel for hardness and colour, and sterling silver is 925 parts silver to 75 parts of something else, usually copper. The fineness is the share of the alloy that is the precious metal.
- Assay
- The analysis of a metal to find out what it is made of, and in particular how much precious metal it contains. An assay may be non-destructive, as with XRF, or destructive, as with fire assay. Assaypost is an independent buyer, not an assay office, and has no connection with the UK assay offices.
- Assay office
- An independent body authorised to test precious-metal articles and strike hallmarks certifying their fineness. Four operate in the UK: London, whose mark is a leopard's head; Birmingham, an anchor; Sheffield, a rose; and Edinburgh, a three-towered castle. Marks from closed offices such as Chester, Exeter, Newcastle, Norwich, York and Glasgow turn up on older pieces and are legitimate, and so do Irish marks from Dublin, whose office still operates.
- Assay office mark
- The compulsory part of a UK hallmark that shows which office tested the article: a leopard's head for London, an anchor for Birmingham, a rose for Sheffield and a castle for Edinburgh. Older Sheffield silver carries a crown instead. It is the one mark plated ware never has, so it is the first thing to look for; a row of marks without one is a maker's claim or a pseudo-hallmark, not a hallmark.
B
- Base metal
- Any metal that is not a precious one: brass, copper, nickel, steel, zinc, pewter. Base metal turns up inside precious-metal objects all the time, as clasp springs, watch movements, knife blades, plating cores and the rods inside loaded silver, and its weight is left out rather than counted with the rest.
- Beneficiary
- Anyone who inherits under a will, or under the rules that apply where there is no will. A beneficiary does not deal with the estate; the executor or administrator does, and passes things on once debts and tax are settled. Where a piece has been promised to someone, the estate inventory has a column for their name.
- Britannia coin
- A British bullion coin, and UK legal tender. The Royal Mint introduced the gold Britannia in 1987 in 22 carat gold and has struck it at 999.9 fineness since 2013, so an older Britannia is a 22 carat coin; the one-ounce coin holds one troy ounce of fine gold. Not to be confused with the Britannia mark on silver.
- Britannia silver
- Silver of at least 958.4 parts per thousand, one of the UK approved standards. It is marked 958 and, traditionally, with a seated figure of Britannia instead of the lion passant. It is softer and purer than sterling and was the only legal standard for silver wares from 1697 to 1720, so on an early piece the mark is also an age signal; some makers still use it for finer work.
- Bullion
- Precious metal in a form wanted for the metal itself, such as bars, ingots and coins struck for investment. Its content is published, so once a bar or coin has been checked as genuine its metal does not have to be established from scratch. Counterfeits of popular coins and bars exist, so bullion is still checked.
C
- Canteen
- A complete set of flatware, usually in a fitted wooden case with a compartment for each place setting. A canteen that is complete, matched, by one maker and in one pattern can be worth more together than the same pieces apart, depending on the maker, pattern and condition, which is why it should not be split before somebody has looked at it.
- Carat (ct)
- The proportion of gold in an alloy expressed in twenty-fourths, so 24ct is pure gold and 18ct is 18 parts gold in 24. The UK spells it with a c; the American karat means the same thing. The carat used for gemstone weight is a different unit altogether, equal to 0.2 g.
- Chattel
- A personal possession that can be touched and moved: jewellery, a watch, a canteen of cutlery, a coin. For Capital Gains Tax, a chattel sold for six thousand pounds or less is usually exempt, and items in a set sold to the same buyer, or to buyers who are related or working together, even at different times, count as one item. Sovereigns minted in 1837 and later years are sterling currency and sit outside the tax altogether, as the tax guide explains. This is general information, not tax advice.
- Commemorative mark
- An optional extra mark struck in a special year beside the hallmark. The UK assay offices have offered commemorative marks for 1934–35, 1953–54, 1977, 1999–2000, 2002, 2012, 2022 and 2023–24, the last for the Coronation of King Charles III, showing the King's head in an oval. Some were available across two years, so a commemorative mark narrows the year and the date letter confirms it. A commemorative head is not a duty mark, and it does not make a piece old.
- Common control mark
- A mark showing a pair of balance scales, usually with the fineness in figures, struck by the assay office of a country that belongs to the International Convention on Hallmarks. Convention hallmarks from member countries are legally recognised in the UK and need not be hallmarked again here, so a piece carrying one has been independently tested even though the marks look unfamiliar.
- Continental silver
- Silver made outside the UK, often to a standard below sterling, commonly 800 or 835 parts per thousand, and marked with national marks or a bare millesimal figure rather than a UK hallmark. 800 is a UK approved standard and 835 is not, so a Dutch or German piece is identified by testing rather than by assumption.
- Convention hallmark
- The set of marks struck under the International Convention on Hallmarks, which the UK signed in 1972: a sponsor's mark, the Common Control Mark of a pair of scales with the fineness, a fineness mark and the mark of the assay office that tested it. The UK recognises it, so a piece carrying a complete Convention hallmark from a member country has been independently tested and needs no UK hallmark. The UK's recognition of EU countries' own national hallmarks ended on 1 January 2021; the Convention mark was not affected.
D
- Date letter
- The single letter in a hallmark that identifies the year an article was assayed. The letter, its typeface and case, the shield around it and the assay office mark have to be read together, because each office has run through the alphabet many times. Since 1975 all four UK offices have struck the same letter, changing on 1 January; a new alphabet began at A in 2025. It has been optional since 1999, so its absence does not on its own date a piece. The date letters guide explains how to read one.
- Deed of variation
- A written change to who inherits what under a will, agreed by every beneficiary it leaves worse off. GOV.UK says it must be made within two years of the death to count for tax as if the will had said it. The guide to dividing jewellery explains when a family might need one.
- Density test (specific gravity test)
- Weighing an item in air and then suspended in water to work out its density, one of the methods described on the testing page. Gold and silver alloys have characteristic densities, so a result near brass on a piece whose surface reads as carat gold points to plating, a filled core or hollow construction. It is valid on solid pieces but not decisive on its own: it is unreliable on hollow, stone-set or very small pieces, some alloys overlap (9ct white gold and palladium can give similar figures), and it is not used on anything water could harm.
- Dental gold
- The gold-bearing alloy used in crowns, bridges, inlays and some denture frameworks. The recipe varies widely between dental laboratories and can only be established by testing, as the guide to testing dental gold sets out. The weight of porcelain, tooth and cement is estimated and left out, and shown on the written offer. Nothing is removed before an offer has been accepted.
- Duty mark
- A small head of the reigning king or queen in profile, struck among the hallmarks on British silver and gold assayed between 1784 and 1890 to show that duty had been paid. It brackets a piece to that period, which makes it a quick age check. Do not confuse it with a commemorative mark, which can also show a royal head; the date letter beside it settles which.
E
- EPNS
- Electroplated nickel silver: a base-metal body of nickel silver coated, using an electric current, with a layer of silver a few microns thick (a micron is a thousandth of a millimetre). Marked EPNS, EP or A1, sometimes with a row of marks laid out to resemble a hallmark. There is no silver in it worth recovering as metal, though good electroplate by a known maker or designer can still sell as an object. It is not bought here.
- Executor
- The person named in a will to deal with the estate. Where there is no will an administrator does the same job, and GOV.UK calls either a personal representative: answerable in law for the estate's money, property and possessions until each is passed on. That is why the contents of a parent's house are the executor's decision, as the guide to clearing a parent's house explains.
- Exemption weight
- The weight below which an article need not be hallmarked under the Hallmarking Act 1973, one of the rules set out in the guide to reading UK hallmarks. It is 1 g for gold, 7.78 g for silver, 0.5 g for platinum and 1 g for palladium. A stud earring or a fine chain with no mark on it is therefore entirely normal.
F
- Fine weight
- The mass of pure precious metal in an item, as distinct from what the item weighs. It is how coin specifications are stated: a sovereign's standard weight under the Coinage Act 1971 is 7.98805 g, of which 7.32238 g is fine gold.
- Fineness
- The proportion of precious metal in an alloy. The UK approved finenesses are 375, 585, 750, 916, 990 and 999 for gold; 800, 925, 958 and 999 for silver; 850, 900, 950 and 999 for platinum; and 500, 950 and 999 for palladium. Older British gold may be 15ct or 12ct, standards used from 1854 until 1932, when 14ct replaced them. A hallmark certifies a minimum, so a marked piece may be a little finer.
- Fineness mark
- The compulsory part of a UK hallmark that states the metal and its minimum fineness: a figure in parts per thousand, such as 375 or 925, inside a surround whose shape identifies the metal. Gold's surround has its corners cut off, silver's is an oval, platinum's is shaped like a house and palladium's is three joined ovals. Before 1999 the standard was often shown by a traditional symbol instead, such as the lion passant for sterling. See the guides to gold marks and silver marks.
- Fire assay
- A laboratory test that melts a small cut sample and separates out the gold to weigh it. It is the most accurate method for gold content, and it destroys the sample. There is no arrangement with an assay laboratory here, so it is never proposed to you; the testing page explains which checks are used.
- Flatware
- Cutlery: spoons, forks, knives and serving pieces, as distinct from hollowware, which is vessels. Most spoons and forks are solid. Most table knives are not: the handle is a hollow silver shell around filling and a steel blade. Some fish, fruit and butter knives are solid silver throughout, so each piece is checked.
G
- Gold plate
- A layer of gold deposited on base metal or on silver using an electric current, typically well under a micron to a few microns thick. Marked GP, GEP or HGE where it is marked at all. A plated piece holds too little gold to be worth recovering, and it is not bought; what is underneath is usually brass, copper or a nickel alloy. Signed costume jewellery can still sell well as jewellery.
- Gold-filled
- A base-metal core bonded with a layer of gold alloy far thicker than electroplate, usually marked with a fraction and a carat, such as 1/20 12K GF. The fraction shows how much of the weight of the metal in the article is the gold layer (1/20 means one twentieth). It is the construction most likely to read as solid carat gold on a surface test, which is why weight and density are checked too; the guide to plated, rolled and gold-filled work sets out the differences.
- Grant of probate
- The court document confirming that the executors named in a will have authority to deal with the estate. GOV.UK's guidance is that you should not make financial plans until you have got probate, which is why the guide to selling as an executor says to wait for it. The rules differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Gross weight
- The whole weight of an item as it arrives, including stones, filling, springs, blades, glass and anything else attached to it. Each piece is weighed as it arrives, and nothing is removed from it unless you have accepted an offer.
H
- Half sovereign
- A British 22 carat gold coin of 3.99402 g gross weight holding 3.66119 g of fine gold, exactly half a sovereign, under the Coinage Act 1971 standard. Collector interest in halves does not simply track interest in full sovereigns.
- Hallmark
- A set of marks struck by an assay office certifying that an article has been independently tested and meets an approved fineness. A full UK hallmark carries a sponsor's mark, a millesimal fineness mark and an assay office mark, and often a date letter. It says what the metal is. It says nothing about how much metal there is or what is inside the piece, and the sponsor's mark names whoever submitted it, who is not always the maker. Coins are not hallmarked.
- Hammer price
- The figure at which an auctioneer's hammer falls on a lot. The seller receives the hammer price less the house's commission and any other charges in its terms, and the buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium. The guide to where to sell compares auction with the other routes.
- High value dealer
- A business that makes or accepts cash payments of ten thousand pounds or more for goods, and must therefore register with HMRC under the money laundering regulations before it does so. The threshold was 10,000 euros before 30 June 2026, when the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 came into force. A buyer that pays only by bank transfer is not a high value dealer, although proceeds-of-crime and sanctions rules still apply to it, as the reporting guide explains.
- Hollowware
- Silver vessels and containers such as teapots, coffee pots, jugs, bowls and salvers, as distinct from flatware, which is cutlery. Hollowware may be raised from sheet, loaded, or mounted on glass or ceramic, so how much silver is in it varies enormously from one form to the next.
I
- IHT407
- HMRC's schedule for household and personal goods, sent with the full Inheritance Tax account, IHT400. Individual pieces of jewellery above a threshold printed on the form are listed one by one with their open market value at the date of death; antiques and collections such as coins and medals have their own box; everything else goes in as one total. Goods owned jointly go on IHT404 instead. See the probate valuation guide.
- Import mark
- The mark applied by a UK assay office to an article made abroad and tested here. Between 1904 and 1998 the offices used distinct import symbols and expressed the fineness as a decimal, such as .375 or .916, in an oval or oblong. A decimal fineness in that shape therefore means a foreign-made piece assayed in Britain, not a foreign stamp.
K
- Karat
- The American spelling of carat as a measure of gold purity. 14K and 14ct are the same thing, 14 parts gold in 24, or 585 fine. It should not be confused with the carat used for gemstone weight.
- Krugerrand
- A South African bullion coin struck in 22 carat alloy, with a springbok on the reverse. The standard one-ounce coin holds one troy ounce of fine gold. Its gold content is published, so once it has been checked as genuine (counterfeits exist) it is treated as a known unit rather than as jewellery. It is not British currency, so for Capital Gains Tax it is treated differently from a sovereign.
L
- Letters of administration
- The document equivalent to a grant of probate where the person died without a will, naming the administrator who has authority to deal with the estate. GOV.UK states that where there is no will, the closest living relative can apply.
- Lion passant
- The traditional mark for sterling silver hallmarked in England, showing a lion walking with its right forepaw raised. It certifies 925 fineness, and since 1999 it has been optional beside the compulsory figure 925. Scottish sterling carries a thistle or a lion rampant for the same standard, and Irish sterling a crowned harp.
- Lion rampant
- A lion standing on its hind legs: the Scottish standard mark for sterling silver, found on Glasgow silver and on later Edinburgh sterling. Older Edinburgh pieces carry a thistle instead. Beside a castle it means Scottish sterling, not a variant of the English lion passant.
- Lot
- Everything you send together. Every piece is listed, weighed and checked for its metal (each coin has its own line, and coins of the same standard may be weighed and checked by group), and one written offer is made for the whole of it. Items that arrive in separate parcels on different days are separate lots, unless you ask in writing for the first to be held until the second arrives, as the terms of service set out.
- Loupe
- The small folding magnifier, usually ten times, used to read hallmarks and examine settings. A phone camera held close in side light does much the same job for photographing a mark, which is why you do not need one at home to describe what you have.
M
- Marriage (married piece)
- An object assembled from parts of two different pieces, most often a lid from one pot on the body of another. Detachable parts carry their own marks, so a lid whose marks do not match its body gives it away. It matters a great deal to a specialist and not at all to the metal.
- Millesimal fineness
- Fineness expressed in parts per thousand. A mark of 750 means 750 parts precious metal in 1,000, which is 18ct gold. Modern UK hallmarks carry the millesimal figure inside a surround whose shape says which metal it is: gold, silver, platinum and palladium each have their own.
- Mint mark
- A single small letter on a coin showing where it was struck. On most St George sovereigns it sits on the ground line above the date, and on a shield reverse below the shield; on Young Head St George sovereigns struck at Melbourne and Sydney from 1871 to 1887 it is on the other side, under the portrait. S, M, P, C, I and SA mark the overseas branch mints. No letter on a standard sovereign usually means it was struck by the Royal Mint in Britain, though the early Sydney Mint coins of 1855 to 1870 have a design of their own. A coin dealer reads it with the date, the portrait and the condition.
N
- Nickel silver
- An alloy of copper, nickel and zinc that is silver in colour and contains no silver at all. It is the usual base beneath EPNS plating.
- Numismatic value
- What a coin is worth to collectors because of its date, mint, type, rarity or condition, over and above the metal in it. It can be many times the metal and it is destroyed the moment the coin is melted, which is the subject of the guide to selling sovereigns without losing the premium.
O
- Open market value
- The basis on which an estate's possessions are valued for inheritance tax. HMRC's Inheritance Tax Manual defines it as the price which the property might reasonably be expected to fetch if sold in the open market at that time, and the relevant time is the date of death. It is not a replacement cost and not an offer, as the executor guide explains.
P
- Palladium
- A platinum-group metal used in white-gold alloys, in jewellery of its own and in some dental alloys. The UK approved finenesses are 500, 950 and 999, and its hallmark surround is three connected ovals. Palladium hallmarking was offered from 2009 and became compulsory in 2010, so an unmarked palladium piece may simply predate it.
- Patina
- The soft, even surface an old silver object acquires over decades of light use and gentle cleaning. Specialists want it, and a polishing wheel destroys it in minutes. It cannot be put back, which is why nothing old should be cleaned before somebody has looked at it.
- Pattern
- The named design of a set of flatware, such as Old English, Fiddle, King's or Queen's. A pattern people still collect and match can be sold as replacements to someone completing a service; a pattern with no following is simply cutlery.
- Platinum
- A dense white precious metal used in jewellery and some dental alloys. The UK approved finenesses are 850, 900, 950 and 999, with 950 the usual jewellery standard, and the hallmark surround is a house shape. Its weight is a clue: platinum is noticeably heavier than white gold of the same size, though on a small piece the difference is hard to feel.
- Probate valuation
- A written figure for what each of an estate's possessions would have fetched on the open market at the date of death, prepared so the estate can report its value. It comes from an independent valuer, an auction house or, for ordinary items, the executor's own careful estimate. An offer from a buyer is not one, a rough idea from photographs is not one, and nothing on this site is a valuation.
- Proof
- A coin struck with specially prepared dies and polished blanks, for presentation or for sets, with mirrored fields and very sharp detail. Proofs were never meant to circulate, so a proof-like surface on an old coin is a reason to have it seen by a coin specialist before it is sold anywhere. Royal Mint silver proofs are struck in silver, even where the circulating coin of the same design is not.
- Provenance
- Where a piece came from and how that can be shown: who owned it, how it was acquired, and what paperwork exists. It matters twice over. A buyer has to establish that a seller is entitled to sell, as the guide to identity and provenance checks sets out, and a documented history can add real interest to a collectable piece.
- Pseudo-hallmark
- A row of marks on plated ware laid out to look like a hallmark, using shields, animals or letters that no assay office uses. Most were a maker's house style rather than a forgery, but they catch people out. A real UK hallmark always includes an assay office mark, so look for that first.
R
- Refining
- The industrial process of melting scrap and separating the precious metal from base metals to a high purity. It cannot be undone, which is why anything that may be worth more as it is gets set aside and pointed out to you before any metal is melted.
- Rhodium plating
- A very thin coating of rhodium, itself a platinum-group metal, applied to white gold to make it whiter and brighter. It wears through first at the shank of a ring, which is why a worn white-gold ring often looks faintly yellow underneath. It is a coating on a solid carat piece, not a plated construction.
- Rolled gold
- A sheet of gold alloy bonded to a base-metal core and rolled thin, used for watch cases, pens, spectacle frames and inexpensive jewellery. Marked RG, rolled gold, plaqué or doublé. Thicker and longer-wearing than plating, and still not solid gold; rolled gold, gold-filled and vermeil compared sets out the differences.
- Rose gold
- A gold alloy with a high copper content, which gives the pink colour. The colour says nothing about fineness. Rose gold exists at 9ct, 14ct and 18ct and is identified by its mark and its test like any other alloy.
- Rough idea (from photographs)
- What you are told from photographs before anything is posted: what the pieces appear to be, which look plated, which deserve a specialist first, and whether posting looks worthwhile. The terms of service call it an estimate. It is an opinion given without the items in hand, it binds neither side, and it is not an offer or a valuation, so it should not be used for an estate's figures or for sharing things out.
S
- Scrap
- Precious-metal items sold for the metal in them rather than as objects. The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, which applies in England and Wales, excludes gold, silver and any alloy of which two per cent or more by weight is gold or silver from its definition of scrap metal, so the rules governing a gold buyer are not those governing a scrap-metal yard.
- Sheffield plate
- Old Sheffield Plate is fused plate, not electroplate: from about 1743 a sheet of sterling silver was fused to a copper ingot and the two rolled out together, until electroplating replaced it in the 1840s. Worn Sheffield plate shows copper coming through, warm rather than grey. It holds no silver worth recovering as metal, but good pieces are collectable in their own right and belong with a specialist or a saleroom.
- Signed piece
- Jewellery carrying a maker's or designer's name, meant to be read as a word rather than as initials in a shield. Unlike a sponsor's mark, a signature is one of the clearest signs that a piece may be worth more intact, and the guide to what to have looked at explains where to find one.
- Silver plate
- A base metal, usually nickel silver or copper, carrying a thin layer of silver. It covers EPNS and the older fused Sheffield plate. Neither holds silver worth recovering as metal, though Old Sheffield Plate is collected.
- Solder
- The lower-melting alloy used to join the parts of a piece. Gold solder is usually of lower fineness than the item it joins, and lead-solder repairs on silver contaminate the metal. A test that lands on a joint reports the solder rather than the piece, which is why more than one place is checked.
- Sovereign
- A British 22 carat gold coin with a standard weight of 7.98805 g at 916.66 fineness under the Coinage Act 1971, holding 7.32238 g of fine gold; The Royal Mint quotes it rounded as 7.98 g at 916.7. Its date, portrait, reverse type and mint mark are what a specialist reads, as the guide to sovereign premiums explains.
- Specific gravity
- The density of a material relative to water. Pure gold is about 19.3, a typical 9ct alloy around 11 to 12, sterling silver about 10.3 and brass around 8.5, so the figure usually separates solid carat gold from a plated or filled piece that reads the same on the surface, except on hollow, stone-set or very small pieces.
- Sponsor's mark (maker's mark)
- The registered initials of the person or firm that submitted an article for hallmarking, struck in a distinctive shield. It names whoever was responsible for the article, which is not always who made it. On antique silver it is usually the maker's mark. Today it must contain at least two letters within a surround, or a symbol in an approved surround; early makers' marks were sometimes devices. On a modern piece that is how it is told apart from the single-letter date letter.
- Sterling silver
- Silver of 925 fineness, which is 925 parts silver in 1,000 with the remainder usually copper. It is the standard UK silver alloy, marked with the figure 925 in an oval and, traditionally, the lion passant in England. A bare 925 with no assay office mark is a manufacturer's claim rather than a tested one.
T
- Traditional fineness symbol
- The picture marks that traditionally state or accompany the standard: a crown for gold, the lion passant for English sterling, the lion rampant for Scottish sterling, a seated Britannia for Britannia silver, an orb for platinum and the head of Pallas Athene for palladium. Optional since 1999, and applied on request beside the compulsory fineness mark. Before 1975 the crown appeared only with 22ct and 18ct gold.
- Troy ounce
- The unit precious metals are weighed in, a little over 31 g. It is heavier than the 28.35 g avoirdupois ounce used for food, which is why a one-ounce coin weighs more than an ounce of anything in a kitchen.
V
- Vermeil
- Sterling or fine silver with a layer of gold over it. The body is a precious metal and the gilding is decoration, so vermeil is silver and is treated as silver. Where it is hallmarked, the hallmark is a silver one, and it can be hidden under the gold; the guide to vermeil and other gold coatings explains what to look for.
W
- Weighted (loaded) silver
- Silverware, typically candlesticks, trophy bases, shakers and dressing-table pieces, made from thin silver sheet over a filling of pitch, plaster, cement or resin, usually around a steel rod. The hallmark is real and certifies the sheet. What the piece weighs says almost nothing about the silver in it, as the guide to weighted and loaded silver describes.
- White gold
- A gold alloy whitened with palladium, nickel or silver, nearly always rhodium plated for brightness. It is identified by its gold fineness like any other alloy. The rhodium is a coating and can affect a surface reading, so a worn spot is the place to test.
- Written offer
- The single amount offered for a whole lot, sent in writing once the items have arrived and been listed, weighed and checked, with every item described on it. Nothing is sold until you accept it deliberately, and silence is never acceptance. Decline it and everything comes back by tracked, signed-for post at our cost. You can also ask for some pieces back: you then get a new offer for the rest, and the first offer stays open on its original terms for as long as it would have done. The terms of service set this out.
X
- XRF (X-ray fluorescence)
- A non-destructive method in which an item is exposed to X-rays and the elements present are identified from the energies they give off. Handheld and benchtop instruments read only the near surface, a matter of microns, varying by metal and instrument, and readings are affected by plating, surface enrichment, solder, curvature, small or thin samples, contamination and mixed construction. No XRF analyser is in use here yet. The guide to the limits of an XRF reading takes each in turn.
Y
- Yellow gold
- Gold alloyed with silver and copper in proportions that keep a yellow colour. Pure gold is yellow, and more copper in the alloy pushes it towards red, as in rose gold. Colour is a poor guide to fineness, and a 9ct piece and a 22ct piece can look much the same across a room.
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