Impropriety of description "14 K" for item not entirely gold
69 F.T.C. 1212 · Apr. 2, 1966 · Digest No. 25
source volume section (69 F.T.C. 1212)
Text is machine-OCR of the printed volume and may contain errors. Advisory opinions are the Commission's views on proposed conduct, not binding orders.
No. 25. Impropriety of description "14 K" for item not entirely gold.
The Federal Trade Commission recently rendered an advisory opinion that it is improper to mark or describe an earring as having a "14 K post" when the post is not entirely gold. Under Rule 22 (c) (1) of the Trade Practice Rules for the Jewelry Industry, " the Commission advised an artic1e may not be so designated unless it is ' composed throughout of an al10y of gold' ; since this article wi1l contain substantia1 e1ectrop1atings of base metals, it plainly is not composed throughout of g01d. The requesting party had stated that the earring in question would be constructed as fol1ows:
1. The ornamental front part would be basica1ly brass, but no quality claim is contemplated as to this part of the artic1e. 2. The front part is attached to a post made for penetration of pierced ears and held in place by a clutch type back made basicaly of brass. "'0 quality claim for the clutch type back is contemp1ated.
3. The post wil he 14 karat go1d. After being soldered to the ornamental front the entire artic1e wil be e1ectroplated with copper, then electroplated with nickel , and fina1ly electroplated with high karat gold. (File 1\0. 663 7003, released Apr. 2, 1966.