Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metal items, to protect consumers. Upon successful completion of the assay, (i.e. the metallurgical content is found to be equal or better than that claimed by the maker and it otherwise conforms to the prevailing law) the assay offices typically stamp a hallmark, punze (G.) or poinçon (F.) on the precious metal item to certify its metallurgical content. Hallmarking firs...
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Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metal items, to protect consumers. Upon successful completion of the assay, (i.e. the metallurgical content is found to be equal or better than that claimed by the maker and it otherwise conforms to the prevailing law) the assay offices typically stamp a hallmark, punze (G.) or poinçon (F.) on the precious metal item to certify its metallurgical content. Hallmarking first appeared in Europe in France, with the Goldsmiths' Statute of 1260 promulgated under Etienne Boileau, Provost of Paris, for King Louis IX.
Title 15, Chapter 8, Section 291 of the United States Code makes it unlawful to stamp goods in the United States with "United States assay" or any similar stamp which gives the impression that the item has been officially assayed by the United States government.
There is no hallmarking scheme in the U.S. yet assay offices did/do exist in the U.S. but they are affiliated with the government's coinage mints...
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