When purchasing any jewelry pieces and fun costume pieces or when examining them, you will notice that each and every item in any jewelry collection has different markings on it.
Generally, the most common trademark stamps or common marks that you would find on your jewelry pieces are used to indicate very important information about your piece including the manufacturer, metals, jeweler, carat weights, trademarks, metal stamp or the designer.
All in all, these markings on different jewelry pieces actually give you a clue about the history and the overall value of your favorite items.
Now, there is this silver mark ‘925 FAS’ that you may come across on gold jewelry that may leave you puzzled when trying to find its meaning.
For this reason, we will look at what this specific silver marking is for, evaluate its significance and try to understand why gold jewelry is stamped with a silver mark.
What is the FAS mark on Jewelry?
All kinds of jewelry made of silver is often marked with a small hallmark that indicates its authenticity. More often than not, the marker stamps its logo or name on the jewelry piece. The FAS mostly appears on sterling silver jewelry and it is also labeled as 925.
This FAS mark represents Fused Alloy Silver which means that, the particular piece of sterling silver jewelry has been infused with an alloy. Therefore, if you are dealing with sterling silver you will notice a stamp of FAS 925.
Aside from that the FAS mark on jewelry also stands for a company that has been creating and designing silver jewelry, that is, Fantastic Antique Silver.
In as much as this company doesn’t exist anymore, a lot of its jewelry is still sold by various jewelry vendors across the globe, whether from China, Italy or Thailand among others.
All in all, if the FAS hallmark is marked on jewelry that isn’t necessarily antique, then there are high chances that it is a direct reference to fused alloy silver.
What does the Silver Mark FAS mean? (Significance)
The FAS stamp on silver jewelry that is often denoted as ‘925 FAS’ is an indicator that 92.5% of the jewelry piece is made of silver and the remaining percentage is a fused silver alloy.
When compared to the 99.9% composition of Silver in Pure Silver, Sterling Silver, or 925 silver is comprised of 92.5% weight of Silver.
The rest of the weight in the 925 Silver is high likely copper, which is often used to strengthen the Silver.
What does 925 FAS mean on Gold Jewelry?
Now that you know that the 925 FAS mark is often found on silver jewelry and is a solid indicator for the silver content in your jewelry pieces, it is safe to establish that the mark does not at any point refer to the gold content of that particular piece.
As a matter of fact, jewelry pieces that have ‘925’ marked on them are not made of solid gold.
Instead, it is the 925 Silver Jewelry which contains 92.5% Silver and the remaining 7.5% is made up of other elements, perhaps gold, in this case.
Why Stamp Gold Jewelry with a Silver Mark?
One of the most confusing things that may come up when you come across a golden piece with the FAS mark that is commonly used for silver, is why it is there in the first place.
Well, we can assume that gold jewelry is stamped with a silver mark to distinguish ornaments that aren’t actually made of gold. Rather, it is solid indicator that the specific jewelry piece that you just came across is in fact a silver piece that is gold plated.
In this case, we can deduce that the 925 number actually denotes the purity of the underlying silver core but does not represent the purity level of the thin gold layer added to the piece. The whole idea is that the 925 FAS stamp is usually engraved on Gold Vermeil.
In the realm of jewelry with golden tones, gold vermeil is said to be the best quality jewelry that you can find as an alternative to purchasing expensive solid gold. So, if you have a gold piece in your jewelry collection box market with a ‘925’ stamp then you most definitely have gold vermeil, which actually is a great investment.
All in all, for any piece of jewelry to be sold to you as gold vermeil in the United States, its gold plating would need to contain about 42 percent of Gold or at least at 10 karats. To add on that, it would need to have a thickness of about 2.5 microns. This standard, however, differs across different countries.
Conclusion
If you would want to ensure that the 925 stamp on your favorite jewelry piece is an indicator for its gold plated nature, you are free to check for any other stamps that may have been engraved on the piece.
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Tiger is a fashion&jewelry lover. He is also a fashion jewelry manufacturer that help thousands of small business to grow and also do business with some big fashion jewelry brands. He is a truly metal expert and he will share some information you are looking for.