QuestionI have a gold colored chain. It is marked an a fancy lobster claw style clasp, (better than lobster claw, it slides back and forth internally, I actually thought it was broken until I figured it out), GOLDRUSH and a 7 digit number on the other side, on the opposite part of the clasp is 18k p g. Any idea what this might be? It is older, and I initially thought it was gold plated but that is usually marked gp. Thanks in advance for any help!
Sincerely,
Amy Jo
AnswerAmy Jo, thanks for this question. The only "Goldrush" with which I am familiar sells mostly gold nugget items. The website is this:
http://www.goldrushfinejewelry.com/
As for the clasp, I have seen the sort you describe and this style appears to be well made and work well overall.
As for the markings, my first thought is that this is an older item, at least the clasp. Then the "g" threw me a tiny bit.
You see, there was a time some years ago when the US standards for gold qualities changed. Makers had been allowed a tolerance of 1/2 karat in quality marks. This meant that a 13 1/2 karat item could be marked 14k. It appears the makers had the ability to make items almost exactly 13 1/2 karat and that qualified for the 14k mark. So, the manufacturers saved 1/2 karats worth of gold on what they made..all legal. Seeing how this was done, why not keep the standards higher? Today, the federal law calls for a much closer tolerance, within a very small tolerance and nothing as wide as 1/2 karat.
When the law changed, lots of the 14k gold which was actually closer to 13 1/2 karat was in stores. To keep the newer items recognized and know as a higher quality, the letter "p" was inserted. I believe J. C. Penny had a lot to do with this and was perhaps the first to use the "p" stamp.
What was the "p"? The letter stands for plumb, think plum bob as used by a carpenter to find a straight line, a line true to the mark. Plum means essentially "on the mark".
So, makers of new jewelry wanted their items to be seen as better and added a p to the stamp, such as 18k in the old marks became 18kp, meaning 18k plumb gold, on the mark and really 18k. I suspect your item is 18k gold, with the clasp from the era when the p was being used. Nowadays, the p is not used since old stock of non-conforming jewelry should be out of the inventories by now. (We are talking 20+ years.)
The g threw me thinking this might be related to plated items but so little is seen which actually meets the standards for the gp mark I disregard it. We see lots of plated items but almost never ones which are thick enough to have the legal definition of "gold plated" and be marked with a stamp to that effect.
I believe the clasp and hopefully the chain is 18k gold, gold meeting the current standards for gold marking. Without actually testing the clasp and chain, I surely cannot say for certain. If you are concerned about it, call a few jewelers and see if they will test metal for gold quality. (A call saves a useless trip to a store with no person there or the stuff to do the test.) Have it tested and then we will know for certain. These tests are not very costly or at least should not be. We often test gold at no charge, depending on the intricate nature of the item and how many items are to be testes.
Let me know if you get a chance if you find out for certain what you have. For me, I am going with 18k.
Amy Jo, thanks again. God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
October 14, 2007 10:07pm
