Subdivision 1. False stamping of articles of gold or silver. Any person, firm, corporation, or association, who or which make for sale any article of merchandise made, in whole or in part, of gold or any alloy of gold, having stamped, branded, engraved or printed thereon, or upon any card, tag, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, or wrapper, in which such article is encased or enclosed any mark, indicating or designed or intended to indicate, that the gold or alloy of gold of such article is of a greater degree of fineness than the actual fineness or quality of such gold or alloy, unless the actual fineness of such gold or alloy, in the case of flatware and watch cases be not less by more than 3/1000 parts, and, in the case of all other articles, be not less by more than one-half karat than the fineness indicated by the marks stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted upon any part of such article or upon any cards, tags, or labels attached thereto, or upon any box, package, or wrapper in which such article is encased or enclosed according to the standards and subject to the qualifications hereinafter set forth, is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, that in any test for the ascertainment of the fineness of the gold or its alloy in any such article, according to the foregoing standards, the part of the gold or its alloy taken for the test analysis or assay shall be such part or portion as does not contain or have attached thereto any solder or alloy of inferior fineness used for brazing or uniting the parts of the article; provided, further, and in addition to the foregoing tests and standards, that the actual fineness of the entire quantity of gold and of its alloys contained in any article mentioned in this section, except watch cases and flatware, including all solder or alloy of inferior metal used for brazing or uniting the parts of the article (all such gold, alloy, and solders being assayed as one piece) shall not be less by more than one karat than the fineness indicated by the mark stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted upon such article, or upon any tag, card, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed.

Subd. 2. Standards; improper stamping; penalties. Any person, firm, corporation, or association, who or which makes for sale any article of merchandise made, in whole or in part, of silver or any alloy of silver, and having marked, stamped, branded, engraved, or printed thereon, or upon any card, tag, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed, the words "sterling silver" or "sterling," or any colorable imitation thereof, unless 925/1,000 of the component parts of the metal appearing or purporting to be silver, of which such article is manufactured are pure silver, subject to the qualifications hereinafter set forth, is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, that in case of all such articles there shall be allowed divergence of fineness of 4/1,000 parts from this standard.

Any person, firm, corporation, or association, who or which makes for sale any article of merchandise made, in whole or in part, of silver, or of any alloy of silver, and having marked, stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted thereon or upon any card, tag, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed, the words "coin" or "coin silver," or any colorable imitation thereof, unless 900/1,000 of the component parts of the metal appearing or purporting to be silver, of which such article is manufactured are pure silver, subject to the qualifications hereinafter set forth, is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, that in the case of all such articles there shall be allowed a divergence in fineness of 4/1,000 parts from this standard.

Any person, firm, corporation, or association, who or which makes for sale any article of merchandise made, in whole or in part, of silver, or of any alloy of silver, and having stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted thereon or upon any tag, card, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper, in which the article is encased or enclosed, any mark or word, other than the word "sterling" or the word "coin," indicating or designed or intended to indicate that the silver or alloy of silver, in the article, is of greater degree of fineness or quality of such silver or alloy, unless the actual fineness of silver or alloy of silver of which the article is composed be not less than 4/1,000 parts than the actual fineness indicated by the mark or word, other than the word "sterling" or "coin," stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted upon any part of the article, or upon any tag, card, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed, subject to the qualifications hereinafter set forth, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

In any test for the ascertainment of the fineness of any such article mentioned in this section, according to the foregoing standards, the part of the article taken for the test, analysis, or assay, shall be such part or portion as does not contain or have attached thereto any solder or alloy of inferior metal used for brazing or uniting the parts of such article. In addition to the foregoing test and standards that the actual fineness of the entire quantity of metal purporting to be silver contained in any article mentioned in this section, including all solder or alloy of inferior fineness used for brazing or uniting the parts of any such article (all such silver alloy or solder being assayed as one piece) shall not be less by more than 10/1,000 parts than the fineness indicated according to the foregoing standards by the mark stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted upon the article, or upon any card, tag, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed.

Subd. 3. Gold plate; false stamping; penalty. Any person, firm, corporation, or association, who or which makes for sale any article of merchandise made, in whole or in part, of inferior metal having deposited or plated thereon or brazed or otherwise affixed thereto a plate, plating, covering, or sheet of gold or of any alloy of gold, and which article is known in the market as "rolled gold plate," "gold plate," "gold filled," or "gold electro plate," or by any similar designation, and having stamped, branded, engraved, or printed thereon, or upon any tag, card, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed, any word or mark usually employed to indicate the fineness of gold, unless the word be accompanied by other words plainly indicating that the article, or some part thereof, is made of rolled gold plate, or gold plate, or gold electro plate, or is gold filled, as the case may be, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Subd. 4. Silver plate; false stamping; penalty. Any person, firm, corporation, or association, who or which makes for sale any article of merchandise made, in whole or in part, of inferior metal having deposited or plated thereon or brazed or otherwise affixed thereto, a plate, plating, covering, or sheet of silver, or of any alloy of silver, and which article is known in the market as "silver plate" or "silver electro plate," or by any similar designation, and having stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted thereon, or upon any tag, card, or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed, the word "sterling," or the word "coin," either alone or in conjunction with any other words or marks, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Subd. 5. Violations; punishment. Every person, firm, corporation, or association guilty of a violation of subdivisions 1 to 4, and every officer, manager, director, or managing agent of any such person, firm, corporation, or association directly participating in such violation or consenting thereto, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than three months, or by both, at the discretion of the court; provided, that if the person charged with violation of subdivisions 1 to 4 shall prove that the article concerning which the charge is made was manufactured prior to the first day of July, 1907, then the charge shall be dismissed.

Subd. 6. Selling falsely stamped articles; penalty. Every person, firm, corporation, or association who, with intent to deceive, shall sell any article, falsely branded or marked, contrary to the provisions of subdivisions 1 to 5, knowing the same to be so falsely marked or branded, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

History: (10352-10357) 1907 c 467 s 1-6; 1984 c 628 art 3 s 11; 2004 c 228 art 1 s 72