Carol Dekle-Foss
Have you considered a maker's mark for your jewelry creations or handmade beads? It's great for brand name recognition and also adds perceived value. There are all kinds of custom maker's mark stamps including ones for metal, clay, and Precious Metal clay.
In doing a little research for this post I discovered a long history on hallmark stamps and their meanings. Lang Antiques has tons of information and examples if you are interested in knowing more. Here is the rabbit hole. Hallmark stamps have been in use in England and France since the 14th century. One of their purposes was to to protect the consumer when purchasing precious metals. The purity stamp or "fineness" mark signifies the content and quality of the metal, such as the .925 mark or 14k. The maker's mark was a designation of responsibility for the designer. Every country has their own way of handling hallmarks. The USA doesn't necessarily hallmark, but precious metal jewelry has to indicate fineness as of 1906. In 1961 the responsibility or maker's mark became mandatory if a purity mark is used.
So here in the USA, if you put purity stamp like a .925 mark on your jewelry, by law you have to have a maker's mark as well. Good to know!
I recently designed and purchased a maker's mark. Looking back to when I created my business name, I would have made it shorter! I tried acronyms for the stamp, like TRD, but that was lame. Who wants a piece of jewelry from turd? Lol. So for recognition I just used the whole name. It's a bit large, but oh well.
I went through Infinity Stamps. Their customer service is great, the stamp came a week early, and the detail is amazing.
Here are just a few ways to use a maker's mark.
So tell me, have you considered investing in your very own maker's mark? I hope this post has inspired you to do so!
