question about silver jewelry for you experts

[Lucky Jack]

I bought some gold colored chains at a g-sale recently because they were stamped "HCT 925" I thought they might be gold plated sterling silver but I can't find any info on the web to confirm my thoery. Does anybody know what this means?
Thanks

 

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[Marty-Graw]

that is exactly what that means....it is also called "vermeil".....gold plated silver

do a google search on vermeil and look at the wikipedia definiton and that will answer any questions you may have

 

[Lucky Jack]

Thanks Marty, but the article on Wikipedia didn't mention the mark "HCT 925". It's not that I don't trust that gold plating silver is a common practice but I'd like to know what the "HCT" stands for.

 

[Marty-Graw]

htc is probably just a maker's mark

 

[cyberdan]

OK, here is what HCT stands for. Sorry none have to do with silver

HCT Hydrochlorothiazide
HCT Hematocrit
HCT Higher Colleges of Technology (United Arab Emirates)
HCT Hardware Compatibility Tests
HCT Hamburger Computertage (Messe)
HCT Home Comfort Team (Syncro Weld, Inc.)
HCT Hollow Clay Tile
HCT Mercury Cadmium Telluride (HgCdTe)
HCT Hall Current Thruster
HCT High-Capacity Transport (Nortel)
HCT Helicopter Combat Support Training Squadron
HCT Hawker Control Team (Hong Kong)
HCT Helical Computerized Tomography (scanning)
HCT High-Speed CMOS with TTL output (aka HCMOS)
HCT Hyundai Calibration & Certification Technologies Co Ltd (South Korea)
HCT High Clutter Tracker (radar)
HCT Hub City Transit
HCT Hartford City Taxi (Hartford, WI)
HCT Human Intelligence Collection Team (US DoD)

 

[savant365]

On Monday, April 17, 1989, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for HCT. This trademark is owned by Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32887. Trademarkia.com is a free search engine of publicly available government records. Trademarkia.com is not a law firm and does not represent owners & correspondents listed on this page.

The correspondent listed for HCT is RONALD PETER ROMAN, ESQ. of SEMET, LICKSTEIN, MORGENSTERN & BERGER, 201 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE, 12TH FLOOR CORAL GABLES, FL 33134 . The HCT trademark is filed in the category of Jewelery Products . The description provided to the USPTO for HCT is JEWELRY.
The USPTO has given the HCT trademark serial number of 73793898. The current federal status of this trademark filing is CANCELLED - SECTION 8.

Trademarkia is the largest search engine for U.S. trademarks. Each month hundreds of trademarks around the world are filed by licensed attorneys in the Trademarkia network! You can register your trademark in 55 countries in the world through Trademarkia.

http://www.trademarkia.com/hct-73793898.html

 

[Lucky Jack]

So can I assume from this information that any jewlery that's stamped 925 is sterling silver regardless of it's color (gold, silver, copper, black etc.) and that the "HCT" is only a makers mark or trade mark of some kind?

 

[Marty-Graw]

exactly.....although you DO have to watch out for some china 925 that is actually only about 40%....you can usually check that with a magnet.... but for the most part if it is stamped .925 then it is silver regardless of color

 

[batcap]

So can I assume from this information that any jewlery that's stamped 925 is sterling silver regardless of it's color (gold, silver, copper, black etc.) and that the "HCT" is only a makers mark or trade mark of some kind?

I got burned on a bracelet marked 925 Italy. Sometimes counterfeit looks great - black patina and all. Acid testing silver is very easy and inexpensive. I'll either discreetly test it before buying, or immediately after to return instantly if it's fake.

 

[Nightowl 280]

So can I assume from this information that any jewlery that's stamped 925 is sterling silver regardless of it's color (gold, silver, copper, black etc.) and that the "HCT" is only a makers mark or trade mark of some kind?

I got burned on a bracelet marked 925 Italy. Sometimes counterfeit looks great - black patina and all. Acid testing silver is very easy and inexpensive. I'll either discreetly test it before buying, or immediately after to return instantly if it's fake.

Did your Italy marks have the standard 925 in a oval ? 80-90% of our italy silver and gold plate silver ive had has had the 925 in a oval and it has not been fake .

 

[cyberdan]

I just tested and turned down 3 pieces marked 925 Italy (can't remember if there was an ovel or not) all looked like high quality gold but marked 925.
All tested as a base metal on my electronic tester. The guy said they were his mothers and all bought on Home Shopping Network many years ago. If they had any silver in them it was a small percentage.

 

[batcap]

So can I assume from this information that any jewlery that's stamped 925 is sterling silver regardless of it's color (gold, silver, copper, black etc.) and that the "HCT" is only a makers mark or trade mark of some kind?

I got burned on a bracelet marked 925 Italy. Sometimes counterfeit looks great - black patina and all. Acid testing silver is very easy and inexpensive. I'll either discreetly test it before buying, or immediately after to return instantly if it's fake.

Did your Italy marks have the standard 925 in a oval ? 80-90% of our italy silver and gold plate silver ive had has had the 925 in a oval and it has not been fake .

I don't remember the if there was an oval or not on that particular bracelet. Thanks for the tip though.

 

[Nightowl 280]

I just tested and turned down 3 pieces marked 925 Italy (can't remember if there was an ovel or not) all looked like high quality gold but marked 925.
All tested as a base metal on my electronic tester. The guy said they were his mothers and all bought on Home Shopping Network many years ago. If they had any silver in them it was a small percentage.

did you scrape the plating off ? most HSN should be real marks . Its possible the plating was a base metal

 

[batcap]

I just tested and turned down 3 pieces marked 925 Italy (can't remember if there was an ovel or not) all looked like high quality gold but marked 925.
All tested as a base metal on my electronic tester. The guy said they were his mothers and all bought on Home Shopping Network many years ago. If they had any silver in them it was a small percentage.

I'm interested in moving up from acid testing to electronic testing. I should probably start a new thread unless you know one where it's all been said?

 

[cyberdan]

did you scrape the plating off ? most HSN should be real marks . Its possible the plating was a base metal

I always use my jewelrs file on anything that is large enough to file (no very fine chains) My tests read about 260 to 300 for silver. The reading I got (if I remember right) were all under 200. (I am thinking 120 to 180)