On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 19:49:56 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry Abrasha
Post by AbrashaPost by Marilee J. LaymanThe p at the end of 14kp means plated.
No! it means plumb. Or at least it is supposed to mean plumb.
Abrasha is, of course, correct on this. A plated ring probably would not be
marked 14K, since a plating solution that actually produces a 14K deposit is
quite difficult to make. More common is one that lays down something slightly
above 18K or higher. Common markings for that, if it's marked, are not 18KP
(which would also mean plumb karat content), but rather, stuff like 18K HGE,
with the HGE standing for "heavy gold electroplate". More rarely, one sees
"GP". But the P by itself is always "Plumb" It's not so common to see that
any more, but in the early 80s, it was quite common. The reason is that the
U.S. had not so many years earlier, changed it's stamping laws. Prior to the
change, gold items could vary from the stamped karat by as much as half a karat,
presumably to allow for solder in constructed pieces, a ruling dating from the
old days when solders were always of lower karat than the gold they were
formulated to assemble. But by the time the stamping act was passed, that was
irrelevant, and most jewelry didn't use solders for assembly anyway, being cast
in one piece. So manufacturers simply made things from less expensive 13.5
karat gold, and marked it 14K. After the stamping act was changed, though new
pieces had to be made to the new standard, retailers had a few years in which
they could sell off old stocks of the old stuff. In order that people would be
able to tell if they were buying actual 14K or the older 13.5K, manufacturers
came up with the P added to the karat stamp to show that the new stuff was a
full 14K gold content. All this only applied to items made in the U.S., of
course, since most of the rest of the world had never allowed that sloppy
variance in gold content in the first place.
Peter