The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-05-25
NEW YoRK,s SHEER sTAMPING 1AW

l lihb lAe Oa OONbihulGht
 Assay Disclosed.
 New York, May 24.--As a result of
 an investigation instituted by several
 silversmiths evidence has Just been pre-
 sented to the grand jury on which it is
 expected indictments will be found
 against the proprietors of twelve of the largest department stores in New York,
 who have been selling as sterling silver lgoods which are not up to the standard
 required by law.
 The law governing the sale of such
 articles was passed by the legislature sI on May 4, 1894. Similar laws have been passed in seven other states, but there have been no prosecutions under them.
 It is now proposed to make test case.
 Lawyer Newton Dexter was retained
 about two months ago by several large manufacturers and jobbers in silver l'ware of Connecticut and other states,'
 and as counsel also of the Connecticut Jewellers association, to collect evidence
 against the proprietors of department
 stores, who, it was believed, were vio-
 lating the law. In company with Il witness the lawyer visited twelve of the
 largest and best known stores and pur-
 chased alleged sterling silver, forks,
 spoons, pitchers, cups and dishes Then he went before a notary public and made an affidavit as to the circum-
 stances of the purchases.
 He took the articles to the United l States assay office to be assayed. The report of the assay office showed that out of thirty-two articles tested thir- | ty-one fell below the standard, the
 amount of silver varying from 400 to l 910 The lowest proportion of silver except in those goods which the assay CTS report declared were pure brass was shown to be in sleeve buttons, which
 assayed only .O04.
 1 The New York Sun says of the case:
 The grand jury yesterday began an l investigation into a matter presented 1 for their consideration by Assistant District Attorney Battle on evidence furnished by Newton Dexter It Is in regard to the alleged violation of the silver stamping law, and the following l firms were named in the investigation: 1 H. c. r. Koch & Co.,, Bloomingdale
 Bros, Enrich Bros, Simpson, Crawford
 & Simpson, Adams q Co.,, H. 0'Neill & Co.,, Stern Bros, R. H. Macy & Co.,, James A. Hearn & Sons, Hilton, Hughes & Co.,, and A. F. Jammes.
 MT. Dexter has been occupied for sev- eral months in collecting evidence in the case. The evidence includes articles and their duplicates, purchased of the firms mentioned, which articles are marked sterling and "coin silver" and were sold as such.
 The articles have been assayed at the United States mint, and the result shows that only one article out of thir- ty-two submitted assayed up to the le- gal standard of O925, only five out of the whole number reached 09, and a majority dropped to 0O04, while several 1 were returned as pure brass"
 This is the first time that any serious | effort has been made to enforce the law | against the sale of spurious for precious l metals in this country and to many the | existence of such law is unknown. | The law fixes the silver standard at | .0925, the OO75 of copper allowed being | necessary to give requisite hardness. To offer for sale as sterling" arti- cIes below this standard is a misde- IleaQOT DuIlSHdDlt py liIG NilAd llllIl lS- onnent. In England similar tax has been in operation since 1850, and so se- were and prompt is the punishment for the slightest violation of it that it is ten years since a single case has been presented. The purchaser of silver in Great Britain has an absolute guaran- tee of the genuineness of the article if it bears the government stamp.
 The same regulation of value pro tects the buyer on the continent, where all limitation" must be frankly sold as such, or the alternatives of confiscation, fine, and Imprisonment confront the vender.
 My only motive in bringing this mat ter to the attention of the grand jury" said MT. Dexter yesterday, 'is to in- stitute a reform for the protection of the public As matters now stand the gifts and keepsakes we buy for our friends, the articles we purchase for ourselves and for our families, perhaps with the idea of handing them down to our descendants, may be base metal instead of the gold or silver we de- mand and pay for. Until the law is en- forced we have absolutely no guarantee of values"
 MT. Dexter added that two sets of sleeve linke, which he bought in differ- snt shops, were marked "sterling" and cost forty-seven cents and seventy-flve cents. They were alike in size and de- sign, and appeared to be of similar weight. Of these the cheaper pair as sayed six points nearer the standard, put both were far enough below to have , made the vender liable, in England, to from five to fifteen years. r The New York Mall and Express says , n the subject: If the public has been : buying bogus "Stelng Silver" sensa- ions are coming. One leading mer- hant says: You may say for me hat I am willing to be fined for any offense we may have inno- ently committed if this investigation will result in putting stop to this usiness of manufacturing fraudulent liver articles. Had MT. Dexter come 0 me could have given him the names f one hundred manufacturers--some in his state, some outside of it-who make
 regular business of stamping silver