What does 800 mean on jewelry?
Short answer
800: 800 parts per thousand silver or 800 parts per thousand gold.
The figure alone does not name the metal: the metal’s colour and the accompanying marks decide.
The stamp in detail
| Item | What the tables say |
|---|---|
| Stamp | 800 |
| Class | Fineness (purity) mark |
| Silver fineness | 800 parts per thousand (80 % silver) |
| Legal standard (silver 800) | United Kingdom, Vienna Convention states, France |
| Source check | Checked against the sources listed below |
| Gold fineness | 800 parts per thousand (80 % gold) |
| Legal standard (gold 800) | Vienna Convention states |
| Note | 19.2 karat; traditional Portuguese standard. |
| Source check | Checked against the sources listed below |
What is 800 worth by weight?
Every gram of a piece stamped 800 holds 0.8 g of fine silver, if the stamp is accurate. Multiply that by the spot price of silver to get the melt value. It is the floor, what the metal is worth if melted, not what a buyer will pay and not an appraisal.
Example, clearly not live: 10 g at the example price of $51.87 per troy ounce (snapshot of 2026-11-10) is $13.34. The working: 10 g → 800 / 1000 → 10 g × 0.8 → 51.871 USD/ozt ÷ 31.1034768 g/ozt → 8 g × 1.6677 USD/g.
This number is used for more than one metal; the calculator below lets you pick.
Melt value calculator for 800
Enter a weight and a stamp to see the sum.
Today's spot price: LBMA precious metal prices, Kitco live gold or your own dealer's quote. This page never contacts a price service.
What 800 can be mistaken for
Pieces that look like gold and are not:
- plated and gold filled
- pinchbeck and gilt brass
- silver gilt (vermeil)
What a stamp cannot settle: The metal. Colour is not a fineness, and a mark can be forged.
What settles it:
- Magnet: if it sticks, it is not solid gold (not sticking proves nothing).
- Jeweller: touchstone and acids, or X-ray fluorescence, in two minutes.
Cautions
- The figure alone does not name the metal: the metal’s colour and the accompanying marks decide.
- A mark is a statement, not proof: it can be forged or struck on a plated piece. An assay confirms it (touchstone and acids, or X-ray fluorescence).
Related stamps
Frequently asked
What does 800 mean on jewelry?
800: 800 parts per thousand silver or 800 parts per thousand gold.
Does 800 mean the piece is solid silver?
It means the piece is stamped as silver, gold, 800 parts per thousand. The figure alone does not name the metal: the metal’s colour and the accompanying marks decide.
How much fine silver is in a piece stamped 800?
0.8 g of fine silver per gram of metal, if the stamp is accurate. Melt value is that weight times the spot price. It is not an appraisal.
Sources
- Hallmarking Act 1973, Schedule 2 (revised text)
- Vienna Convention on precious metals, Technical Decisions Rev. 13 (in force 1 Oct 2026)
- Douane française, table of guarantee marks (2009)
All sources are listed with the method on the sources page.