N.Y. General Business Law § 234: Quality; contents

§ 234. Quality; contents. There shall not be applied to any article

any quality mark nor any colorable imitation thereof, nor any

contraction thereof, nor any addition thereto, nor any words or letters,

nor any mark purporting to be or resembling a quality mark except as

follows:

(a) An article consisting of at least 985/1000ths parts of platinum,

iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, where solder is

not used and at least 950/1000ths parts of said metal or metals where

solder is used, may be marked "platinum," provided that the total of the

aforementioned metals other than pure platinum shall amount to no more

than 50/1000ths parts of the contents of the entire article.

(b) An article consisting of at least 985/1000ths parts of platinum,

iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, where solder is

not used and at least 950/1000ths parts of the said metal or metals

where solder is used, and provided further that at least 750/1000ths

parts of said article are pure platinum, may be marked "platinum,"

provided immediately preceding the mark "platinum" there is the name or

abbreviation as hereinafter provided, of either iridium, palladium,

ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, which ever of said metals

predominates, and provided further that such predominating other metal

must be more than 50/1000ths parts of the entire article.

(c) An article consisting of at least 985/1000ths parts of platinum,

iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, where solder is

not used and at least 950/1000ths parts of said metals where solder is

used, provided more than 500/1000ths parts of said article consist of

pure platinum, may be marked with the word "platinum," provided that

said word is immediately preceded by a decimal fraction in

one-thousandths showing the platinum content in proportion to the

content of the entire article, and further provided that said mark

"platinum" be followed by the name or abbreviation as herein allowed, of

such one or more of the following metals, to wit: iridium, palladium,

ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, that may be present in the article in

quantity of more than 50/1000ths parts of the entire article. The name

of such other metal or metals other than platinum, however, shall each

be immediately preceded by a decimal fraction in one-thousandths showing

the content of such other metal or metals in proportion to the entire

article, as for example, 600 plat., 350 pall., or 500 plat., 200 pall.,

150 ruth., 100 rhod.

(d) An article consisting of 950/1000ths parts of the following

metals: platinum, iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, and/or osmium

with less than 500/1000ths parts of the entire article consisting of

pure platinum, may be marked with the name iridium, palladium,

ruthenium, rhodium and/or osmium, which ever predominates in the said

article but in no event with the mark "platinum," provided, however,

that the quantity of such metal other than platinum so marked, must be

marked in decimal thousandths, and provided further that the name of

such metal other than platinum so used must be spelled out in full

irrespective of any other provisions of this article to the contrary.

(e) An article composed of platinum and gold which resembles, appears

or purports to be platinum, may be marked with a karat mark and the

platinum mark, provided:

1. The platinum in such article shall be at least 985/1000ths parts

pure platinum; and

2. The fineness of the gold in such article shall be correctly

described by the karat mark of said gold; and

3. The percentage of platinum in such article shall be no less than

five per centum in weight of the total weight of the article; and

4. The mark shall be so applied that the karat mark shall immediately

precede the platinum mark, as for example, "14K & Plat.", "18 K &

Plat.", as the case may be, it being expressly provided that in case the

percentage of platinum exceeds the five per centum provided herein, the

quality mark may also include a declaration of the percentage of

platinum, as for example, "18 K & 1/10th Plat.", or "14 K & 1/8 Plat."

or as the case may be.

(f) An article composed of platinum and any other material or metal

not resembling, appearing or purporting to be platinum, may be marked

with the quality mark platinum provided all parts or portions of such

article resembling or appearing or purporting to be platinum, or

reasonably purporting to be described as platinum by said quality mark,

shall be at least 985/1000ths parts pure platinum.