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Sterling silver 925 hallmark

FCS

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Who created such mark, the silversmith, the jewelry retailer, or someone else? And is it possible for a sterling silver item to not have such mark? I'm specifically referring to cufflinks, btw.

I might got ripped-off by an ebay seller on a pair of 'Brioni' cufflinks purchase. I'm very positive about it but I'll try to get a more substantive prrof by asking some jewellers' opinion.
 

bengal-stripe

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I think it is extremely unlikely that an item of silver is not hallmarked. The hallmark would come from the country of production. Have a jeweller checking it out. They can test for silver content, even without a visible hallmark. http://www.bbc.co.uk/antique....l.shtml
 

FCS

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It's confirmed, two jewellers said it's a fake claim (not that I didn't know it before). It ain't no silver, no onyx, and definitely no Brioni. Avoid this seller like a plague. I'll press as hard as possible to get my money back, including S&H, it's a total gross misrepresentation. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....60&rd=1 P.S. I emailed two people who purchased the same cufflinks and they said they were happy with the goods. I should have known it better.
 

LA Guy

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Dude, you got ripped off, and badly.

The warning signs:

1) The seller never claims authenticity. As if that makes selling fakes not unethical.
2) Brioni is not engraved in the Brioni cursive. Besides that, the engraving is of poor quality. A good engraver will do his best to smooth off the edges. This looks like one of those cheap jobbies you can get at the mall. Go to Tiffany's and see how much better engraving can be done.
3) Sorry man, but what were you thinking. That is one ugly set of cufflinks, with no handiwork, and obviously made in a cheap cast - Look how imprecise and not sharp the edges are. Besides, the style is not even typically Brioni.

The Barney's tag is a nice touch too. It might also be faked. On real Barney's tags, the price is written at the bottom of the tag, in a smaller black font (a Helvetica serifs, I think.) I've seen lots of fake Sak's tags, so I wouldn't be surprised.
 

FCS

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Well, I was sceptical but 2 persons told me that their cufflinks were fine, so I took the chance. Btw, I didn't have much doubt when I purchased this belt recently (still haven't got it yet), but I would really appreciate if you guys could provide some input. I emailed the seller and got her words for refunding S&H too if it is a fake. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....93&rd=1 And do you often see Rockport shoes faked? Or AE? Many, many thanks Ferry
 

FCS

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The Barney's tag is a total fake, the seller did send one to me. The cufflinks does not even come with a gift box. One more thing, how about these Dunhill cufflinks? Is it possible at all to fake the 925 hallmark? Aside from what LA Guy mentioned, what are some of the major signs to look for when shopping for quality cufflinks? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....80&rd=1
 

Kai

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Read the ebay listing.

"The cufflinks are gleaming silver metal with polished faux onyx inset and engraved Brioni."

The seller doesn't identify these as sterling, just "silver metal", and he definitely says that the onyx is not real onyx.

The only place he may have misled you is if they are not Brioni cufflinks. If Brioni didn't make them, you have a claim for your money back.

Just my 2 cents.
 

GQ Lawyer

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There is no way that faux onyx cufflinks would cost $375, even if it were actual Brioni. However, if you like them, regardless of their authenticity, then you should keep them and wear them proudly.
 

FCS

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I interpreted 'silver metal' as silver (silver is a metal right? a precious one and it's gleaming too), it's different from saying 'silver toned'. 'Still in its presentation box' - definitely was not the case. Of course, no way it could be Brioni and having $375 MSRP. Taken as a whole the posting was misleading. Anyways, it was my bad judgement call and the seller agreed to refund the item incl S&H (I'll ensure the latter, the person only paid $1.35 for stamp anyways).

Thanks for all the information.
 

FCS

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GQ, I won't be complaining like this if the cufflinks look respectable at the very least. However, they are not and if you see it in person I think you would agree. I was totally disappointed the moment I opened the package. The crafting was poorly done, the plating and coating was 'bubbling', the edges are not smooth, the body is too thin, the width is too narrow, the engraving is slightly 'yellowing', etc. There is simply no elegance, not even presentability, in it. The picture was probably done by a semi-professional photographer and that makes it better than it looks like, although some people here can tell straight away that is of poor quality. Even my CAD $12 rhodium cufflinks look much better in comparison.
 

LabelKing

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Those cufflinks would never be mistaken for Brioni. In all the font is quite odd, and generally it seems very faux.

Also the Brneys tags are fairly small with the price as stated in a small black font. Also the pictures of the tag have some watermark type thing on the paper for some reason. By the way where did you see fake Saks tags? However the Burberry belt is one those licensed products which are at most average to middle quality. The Dunhill's are real although they are from a few seasons back of which I suspect are closeouts.
 

FCS

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LabelKing, how did you make your conclusion regarding the Burberrys belt just by looking at the picture? Would you mind to also elaborate more about how to judge top-quality belt, ie what really set them apart?

I'm totally ok with closeout inventory as long as they are great quality. So I assume you've physically seen the Dunhill cufflinks a few seasons ago?
 

LabelKing

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To differentiate bewteen these things is fairly time consuming. One needs to examine, study, handle, and also just explicity own luxury many items. Plus one has to be familiar with the history of the brand. For example many Gucci items made in the 70's, and 80's were licensed out, and thus the quality wasn't stellar. That changed with Tom Ford's coming. Christian Dior is the same with the men's line called Monsieur as is Givenchy. John Galliano resurected Dior, and McQueen to Givenchy. Hedi Slimane was the man behind Dior Homme to be seperated from Dior Monsieur.

The Burberry belt's styling is fairly obvious. If one were to look at the buckle that style is more or less rampant on the licensed Cardin items. Burberry's high end line is called Prorsum(sp). As for the Dunhill's I have not seen them physically but juding from the packaging, and styling they are a few seasons back.

Dunhill's present packaging is in a mroonish, brown colour with the dunill written in dark on the bottom with the dot over the i at the back. Also the current styling is more or less quirky hip. Packaging is fairly important in order to determine an age or authenticity but not all the time though.
 

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