Signing your work

Arnaud Van Tilburgh · Jun 7, 2010

Thank you Andrew, that answers my question.
About signing jewelery, that is quite simple, the law is very clear on that and I have a " Master Stamp" to sign with.

In a way the "Master Stamp" only tells who made the jewel, not who designed it or did the stone setting.
And as you said, every signed work is a sort of marketing and ones business card.

So I could do that also on a Ti bracelet, but that would not tell who engraved it. And if one does engraving for other goldsmiths, the customer can not find out who engraved it.
So your advice to have your "sign" whatever it is, integrating it into the engraving, I also think it is best. And as you say, one has to think about that when making the design.
When I engraved my first bracelet I was thinking about that, but I didn't. So that is why I quickly did it on the inside witch is not the best place to do, I agree.
I like the "hands" that Barry Lee Hands uses to sign his engravings, it makes sense, having a name as mine, I have to think about something else. :big grin:

arnaud

Gemsetterchris · Jun 7, 2010

Kevin P. said:
The UK has more stringent requirements I believe; James Miller will probably describe the laws for goldsmiths in the UK.
Kevin P.

Precious metal items over a certain weight need to be assayed.
That is sent to an assay office where they test the metals to make sure that they meet the requirements.
They are then stamped accordingly.

The assay or hallmark stamps are the metal content, date letter, assay office mark, makers mark.
"Makers mark" are generally initials, you have to register this & the assay office makes up & keeps your stamp which they then use.

Arnaud Van Tilburgh · Jun 7, 2010

Gemsetterchris said:
Precious metal items over a certain weight need to be assayed.
That is sent to an assay office where they test the metals to make sure that they meet the requirements.
They are then stamped accordingly.

The assay or hallmark stamps are the metal content, date letter, assay office mark, makers mark.
"Makers mark" are generally initials, you have to register this & the assay office makes up & keeps your stamp which they then use.

Yes Chris, that is what was trying to tell, it is that way in the Netherlands, they also use a letter stamp that refers to the year and the "maker Stamp is kept by the "assay office"
In Belgium the "maker" is must keep his stamps and use them himself.

arnaud

Gemsetterchris · Jun 7, 2010

The assay office generally tell what shape stamps & initials are available so that yours is unique & not confused with someone elses.

I guess you can add some other marking if you wish so long as it is relevant & not misleading to customers.
Since the "makers mark" is generally company based, unless you are the "company" as a goldsmith doing the whole piece, any other workers eg: stonsetters ect remain anonymous.

diandwill · Jun 7, 2010

The US is somewhat different. There is no requirement to mark the piece as to quality or metal i.e. 14K, 18K, Sterling etc., BUT IF YOU DO, you must put your hallmark (this is your logo) there also. That way they can track you if the quality is different from the stamp, if you are under-karetting. To my knowledge, it is not required to register your logo/stamp.

Several years ago, when I was working for a different company, I developed a following of clients. My work was/is distinctive, and I asked my employer for permission to discreetly sign it. To that end I went to Microstamp.com, and for $75 US, had a stamp made with my last name. I used .5mm letters so it is small even though it is 10 letters long. When I opened my own store, a developed my own logo, and had a stamp made for that. I use it on all my work, on the back of earrings/pendants, inside rings and bracelets etc. If the piece can't be stamped, it is easy enough to hand engrave, but that takes much more time to get the same result. I consider it the best $75 dollars spent each , for both stamps. It is direct advertising, shows pride in my workmanship, and ties customers to me, in an indirect way.

Arnaud Van Tilburgh · Jun 7, 2010

Yes Will, I'm learning a lot of new words now, if one calls it the "master stamp", Hallmark etc, I suppose it is all the same.

arnaud

diandwill · Jun 7, 2010

I have used a book on British Hallmarks, when doing appraisals on older jewery, from Britain only, of course.

Ther are generally 4 stamps in the items, a quality stamp, the location stamp, the license/approval(?) { I don't have the book any more, so am trying to remeber. There is usually a crown or somesuch in addition to the location, quality and makers marks} and the makers mark. It is great when trying to research older pieces, but would be a great inconvenience here, if every jeweler had to send all their work to an assayers office, to be graded for Karet, and then stamped. I make an average of 10-15 new pieces each month, most are stock but a third are custom orders. It would sure affect delivery times if these hade to be sent to the assayers, it might solve our un-employment problem however, unless they outsourced it.

Tom Curran · Jun 7, 2010

I recently had a guy calling me out of the blue, wanting to have some work done. He had seen one of my rifles, which was signed, and he had chased me down through Google.

That's a good thing.

If I'd done a shoddy job, and someone got hurt because of my negligence, they'd be able to chase me down, too.

However, I'm not making anything I'd be ashamed to put my name on.

Tom

DakotaDocMartin · Jun 7, 2010

Andrew Biggs said:
A Biggs, Engraver to the stars, gorgeous women, the super rich and a legend in his own mind

:banana::yes

Gemsetterchris · Jun 7, 2010

There are 4 assay offices in the UK.
London is probably the oldest & started 1n the 1300`s.

Here is their link where you can find all the relevant info.....

http://www.assayofficelondon.co.uk/

Big-Un · Jun 9, 2010

Thank you all for your opinions. I favor signing my work and use several different ways to do so. On jewelry I generally use fancy script to try and compliment the piece (I hate a "stamp" on high end stuff) and on firearms I try and sign in an inconspicuous place with various means (initial, name, name-engraver), whatever will not take away from the design. Oftentimes I sign a handgun on the frame under the grip. All in all, it behooves us all to sign our work, not from arrogance, but to respect our craft, our artistry and to the future owners of our work. Again, thanks for the input.

Bill

monk · Jun 9, 2010

to the member wo isn't able to do lettering small enough to "sign" your work: you could at least use a scriber as best you could, in some inconspicuous area, say under a grip panel, and at least put your initials there. before doing this, practice on scrap and learn to do it neatly ! now would also be a great time to beging practicing some smaller lettering.

KCSteve · Jun 10, 2010

I've heard occasional talk about 'stippling' a signature.

I'm guessing that means that instead of cutting the lines you just use a fine stippling point and just do a series of dots along the lines?

That sounds like a good way to get some really small letters into even a slightly odd space.

metalchipper · Jun 17, 2010

I made up a font for the Op Art rifle to sign my name.

It is on the bottom receiver tang.

Signing your work

Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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Gemsetterchris

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Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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