N.J.S.A. 51:5-3 — Manufacture or sale of articles made of silver, with marks of "sterling" , "coin" , etc., where articles less than certain fineness

51:5-3. Manufacture or sale of articles made of silver, with marks of "sterling" , "coin" , etc., where articles less than certain fineness No person shall make for sale, sell or offer to sell or dispose of, or have in his possession with intent to sell or dispose of, any article of merchandise made in whole or in part of silver or of any alloy of silver, upon which article, or upon any tag, card or label attached thereto, or upon any box, package, cover or wrapper in which such article is incased or inclosed, shall be marked, stamped, branded or engraved: a. The words "sterling silver" or "sterling" or any colorable imitation thereof, unless nine hundred and twenty-five one-thousandths 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 set forth in section 51:5-4 of this title, provided that in case of all such articles, there shall be allowed a divergence in fineness of four one-thousandths parts from the foregoing standard; or b. The words "coin" or "coin silver" or any colorable imitation thereof, unless nine hundred one-thousandths 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 set forth in said section 51:5-4; provided that in case of all such articles, there shall be allowed a divergence in fineness of four one-thousandths parts from the standard mentioned in this paragraph; or c. 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 such article is of a greater degree of fineness than the actual fineness or quality of such silver or alloy, unless the actual fineness of the silver or alloy of silver of which such article is composed be not less by more than four one-thousandths parts than the actual fineness indicated by said mark or word, subject to the qualifications set forth in said section 51:5-4.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 51:5-3, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.