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Title 15 — Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§297 Stamping plated articles

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 8— - FALSELY STAMPED GOLD OR SILVER OR GOODS MANUFACTURED THEREFROM › § 297

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

It bans marking or labeling items made mostly of cheap metal that have only a thin coating of gold or silver in a way that makes them look like solid precious metal. This covers goods sold as rolled gold, gold‑filled, gold plate, silver plate, or electroplate, and applies when they are imported, exported, put in the U.S. mail, handed to a carrier, or otherwise moved. Nothing on the item, its tag, label, box, or wrapper may use marks that suggest real gold fineness unless it also clearly says the piece is plated or gold‑filled. The words sterling and coin may not be used on such items or their labels. If a maker or seller stamps or imports a mark that claims the item is gold or silver, they must also put their trademark or name on the item within 30 days after the item is first sold or brought into the United States. If the product has two or more separate parts made of different quality metals and one part has a quality mark, the maker must put matching quality marks on each other part showing what metal each part is.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §297

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In the case of articles of merchandise made in whole or in part of an inferior metal, having deposited or plated thereon or brazed or otherwise affixed thereto a plating, covering, or sheet composed of gold or silver, or of an alloy of either of said metals, and known in the market as rolled gold plate, gold plate, gold filled, silver plate, or gold or silver electroplate, or by any similar designation, so imported into or exported from the United States, or so deposited in the United States mails for transmission, or so delivered to any common carrier, or so transported or caused to be transported as specified in section 294 of this title, no such article, nor any tag, card, or label attached thereto, nor any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which such article is encased or inclosed, shall be stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted with any word or mark usually employed to indicate the fineness of gold, unless such word or mark be accompanied by other words, plainly indicating that such article or part thereof is made of rolled gold plate, gold plate, or gold electroplate, or is gold filled, as the case may be, and no such article, nor any tag, card, or label attached thereto, nor any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which such article is incased or inclosed, shall be stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted with the word “sterling” or the word “coin”, either alone or in conjunction with other words or marks.
(b)Whenever any person, firm, corporation, or association, being a manufacturer or dealer subject to section 294 of this title—
(1)applies or causes to be applied to any article of merchandise intended for sale or customarily sold as a complete product to consumers in any State, by stamping, branding, engraving, or otherwise, any quality mark or stamp indicating or purporting to indicate that such article is made in whole or in part of gold or silver or of an alloy of either such metal; or
(2)imports into any State any such article of merchandise bearing any such quality mark or stamp which indicates or purports to indicate that such article is made in whole or in part of gold or silver or of an alloy of either such metal,
(A)Apply or cause to be applied to that article a trademark of such persons, which has been duly registered or applied for registration under the laws of the United States within thirty days after an article bearing the trademark is placed in commerce or imported into the United States, or the name of such person; and
(B)if such article of merchandise is composed of two or more parts which are complete in themselves but which are not identical in quality, and any one of such parts bears such a quality mark or stamp, apply or cause to be applied to each other part of that article of merchandise a quality mark or stamp of like pattern and size disclosing the quality of that other part.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The

Effective Date

of this Act, referred to in subsec. (b), as the first day of the third month beginning after Oct. 4, 1961, see

Effective Date

of 1961 Amendment note set out under this section.

Amendments

1970—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91–366 struck out reference to the trademark of a firm, corporation or association in cl. (A). 1961—Pub. L. 87–354 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1970 Amendment Pub. L. 91–366, § 4,
July 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 691, provided that: “This Act [amending this section and section 298 and 299 of this title and enacting provisions set out below] shall take effect three months after enactment [
July 31, 1970].”

Effective Date

of 1961 Amendment Pub. L. 87–354, § 2, Oct. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 776, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this Act [amending this section] shall take effect on the first day of the third month beginning after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 4, 1961].” Separability Pub. L. 91–366, § 2, July 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 691, provided that: “If any provision of this Act [see

Effective Date

of 1970 Amendment note above] or any amendment made thereby, or the application thereof to any person, as that term is herein defined, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act or amendment and the application of the remaining provisions of the Act or amendment to any person shall not be affected thereby.”

Construction

of 1970 Amendment Pub. L. 91–366, § 3, July 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 691, provided that: “The provisions of this Act [see

Effective Date

of 1970 Amendment note above] and

Amendments

made thereby shall be held to be in addition to, and not in substitution for or limitation of, the provisions of any other Act of the United States.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 297

Title 15 — Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73