Silver News

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) was to have begun hallmarking of silver during April pending development of systems for testing, inspection and control of hallmarking facilities, according to BIS officials.

Initially, silver hallmarking will be instituted at five of the country’s 11 gold hallmarking centers. It will be expanded to additional gold hallmarking centers and possibly to centers devoted to silver hallmarking.

The silver hallmarking initiative is in response to consumer complaints to government agencies of being duped by items said to contain silver when they did not. Some articles purported to be silver had no silver at all, according to one government official.

India is the world’s largest silver consumer, averaging about 120 million ounces annually.

Hallmarking will not be applied to silver jewelry, because it is difficult to maintain purity standards as the soldering techniques employed by most jewelers are considered ‘old-fashioned,’ according to government officials. They say that soldering paste — and other impurities introduced by jewelers to lower silver’s melting point so it can be made into jewelry — vary greatly among fabricators.

However, BIS standards for other silver items, including silverware, will be largely based on international standards for sterling, which is 92.5 percent pure, and ‘pure’ silver, which is 99 percent pure.

The BIS currently hallmarks gold between nine and 23 carats. It will soon introduce a plan to hallmark gold of 24 carat purity.

Silver News - Second Quarter 2004