Title 6
Commercial Law — General Regulatory Provisions

Chapter 11
Gold and Silver Products

R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-11-1

§ 6-11-1. Mislabeling of gold products as to fineness — Brazing or uniting alloys.

(a) Any person, firm, corporation, or association who or which makes for sale or sells, or offers to sell or dispose of, or has in his, her, or its possession with intent to sell or dispose of, any article of merchandise made in whole or in part of gold or any alloy of gold, and having stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted upon any part the article, or upon any tag, card, or label attached to the article, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed, any mark indicating, or designed or intended to indicate, that the gold or alloy of gold in the article is of a greater degree of fineness than the actual fineness or quality of the gold or alloy, unless the actual fineness of the gold or alloy, in the case of flatware and watch cases, not less by more than three one-thousandths (3/1000) parts, and in the case of all other articles, not less by more than one-half (½) karat, than the fineness indicated by the mark stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted upon any part of the article, or upon any tag, card, or label attached to the article, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed, according to the standards and subject to the qualifications prescribed by this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(b) In any test for the ascertainment of the fineness of the gold or its alloy in any article, according to the tests and standards prescribed in this section, the part of the gold or of its alloy taken for the test, analysis, or assay shall be a part or portion that does not contain or have attached to it any solder or alloy of inferior fineness used for brazing or uniting the parts of the article; provided, in addition to the previously mentioned tests and standards, that the actual fineness of the entire quantity of gold and of its alloys contained in any article mentioned in this section (except watch cases and flatware), including all solder or alloy of inferior metal used for brazing or uniting the parts of the article (all gold, alloys, and solder being assayed as one piece), shall not be less by more than one karat than the fineness indicated by the mark stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted upon the article, or upon any tag, card, or label attached to the article, or upon any box, package, cover, or wrapper in which the article is encased or enclosed.

History of Section.
P.L. 1907, ch. 1454, § 1; G.L. 1909, ch. 199, § 1; G.L. 1923, ch. 226, § 1; G.L. 1938, ch. 399, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 6-11-1.