The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-29
MEANING OF ~soLrD COLD,
Legal and Commercial Deanition of Oft-Used Phrase.

Legal ana Commercial Dehnifton ef
 Oft-Used Phrase.
 St. Louis Globe Democrat.
 The term solid gold" has been the cause of much discussion on the part of manufacturers of gold articles and of much misapprehension on the part of the public for some time past. and the recent law fixing the commercial deti- hilton of the phrase Is welcomed on all sides.
 According to this law 1o-karat gold Is the commercial solid gold" and all articles containing more alloy than this. or all articles with parts which contain more alloy, are henceforth to be known at plated. filled or rolled gold, and must be so marked bv the manufaeturer. For example, pin with top of solid gold. even to the value of IS karats. cannot legally be called sal- i'd If hinge hook or pin Is not 10-karat gold; while another pin of 10 karats throughout, though of much less intrin- sic value than that of IS kafats. is ls- gally solid gold"
 This law was made to protect the manufacturing jewellers against the makers and sellers of ''phony" jewell ry, and has been heartily endorsed by the legitimate trade all over the United States.
 Tt is law which we have long needed" said a St. Louis wholesale jew eler, but solid gold is a misnomer. and for one should be very glad to see the term abandoned and the value stamp
 used in it's place Commercially speak ing, there never was such thing as
 solid gold'--at least not for the last 200 or 800 years. Some of the ancient jewelry of the Roman and the Renats- sance periods was made of pure gold worked up by hand with the crudest of tools, and that is, of course, of Tar greater value on account of the purity of the material. as well as its quaint
 and beautiful workmanship and It's an tiauity than any modern products Of the goldsmith's art.
 "But alloy has been used to con- stantIy increasing extent since be- cause jewellers found that the naraer the gold was rendered by good alloy tha greater its wearing qualities. and the more secure, therefore, the settins of the gems Is contained Our Jewelry now is of IS, 14 or 10 karafs, accord ing to the design and character of the article and 1t is much more frequent' 1 ly 10 than Is,
 article itself or on the card to which It l is attached the exact value of the gold In all the parts. just as the fooo nnanufacturers are now obliged to state the ingredients of the package on the label, and heavy penalty IS attacneo
 to the use of the words 'sond goi1 m any part of the article contains less than 10 karats of gold.
 "There is a bill now being prepared
 to be introduced at the next Congress to abolish the use of this term ana ,hstifnte the karat stamp for 1t, and both wholesale and retail jewellers over inc country will work hard for It's pas saee We believe the term is calculated to deceive, even when carefully explain ed This bill, if passed, will require
 manufacturers to stamp all gold artl- tarad Half a karat will be allowed for errors but the manufacturers will have to see that the gold comes within this limit. This would be a great help to the buying public, as well as to us, for then everybody could see at once what he is getting and there would not pc so many chances for a comeback at us.'