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I have several pieces of Universal made by: Landers Frary & Clark. One of the pieces is just a simple coffee creamer. On the bottom is has the Universal mark and it is double stamped. It is very obvious that it is an error. I am new in the silver world and I was wondering how common it is to come across an error in markings. I know with coin collecting that an error can be very valuable. So, I was hoping someone out there could comment or provide a resource for learning more about marking errors. Thank you in advance! Have a nice day!
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Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

I think your question needs to be divided into two, errors by manufacturers and errors by official bodies.

There is great interest in marking errors when made by the officials at the assay offices because as guardians of a system that demands a precise degree of correctness in all of its work there is little or none tolerance for mistakes of any kind. Of course they are only human and errors will occur, but it is the rarity of these mistakes that make such items keenly sought after.

Mistakes in the marking process by manufacturers are a far more commonly found error. If during this process it was found that something was going wrong with the marking, it would, I think, simply be corrected ready for the next batch of items to be marked. I would have thought that only a manufacturer of the highest standing would bother to make any correction to something that had already been marked wrongly by, say, double stamping.

Trev.
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Thank you Trev for your reply! I forgot to add a picture of the marking error on the Unverisal Made by Landers Frary & Clark Creamer piece. I'm assuming this would be a manufacturer error, correct? Thanks again!


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Yes, manufacturer error, there's no official hallmarking system in the States.

Trev.
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It might have been made on a Monday or Friday (leaning toward the Friday) with the stamper saying either, "It will buff out in finishing" and it didn't or "I will fix that on Monday" and forgot it over the weekend... by the time it was inspected it was too late to fix and yet had so much invested in the labor costs to make scrapping it questionable.
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Thank you for your input! We really appreciate it! Do you know though if this is something standard that happens alot so there is no higher value to this sort of piece? I'm really surprised that there isn't any type of website dedicated to silver marking errors. Anyway, thanks again and have a great day!
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If anything it would devalue the piece to have the maker's mark incorrectly applied (think of a pair of jeans with the lable un-side-down). It would be considered a second quality piece. It conotes low concern for the quality of their finished piece and the piece may have been origionally sold at a discount.

Unlike coins where an error is valued due it being rare in comparison to the millions of identical and perfect copies in circulation; in silver or jewelry sloppy workmanship is something to that decreases the value.
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