Bench practice
Claims about how a material behaves when worked come from our own bench experience, stated as such. This is the only category we assert without attribution.
Supplier statements
Recycled content percentages, plating thicknesses and alloy specifications come from suppliers. Where we could not independently verify a figure, we attribute it to the supplier rather than stating it as established fact.
Regulation and standards
Hallmarking requirements, the EU nickel restriction and definitions such as vermeil are cited to the instrument or standards body and dated, because they change and vary by market.
Published metallurgy
Where we describe why a reaction occurs — tarnish chemistry, plating adhesion — we rely on standard metallurgical references rather than trade blogs.
What we will not treat as a source
- Other brands' sustainability marketing.
- Certification logos without an accompanying standard we can read.
- Unattributed figures circulating in industry press.
- Claims about feedstock origin that no aggregated-recycling process could support.
Dead links
Where a cited standard or source has moved or been withdrawn, we note that rather than removing the citation.