No person shall make, sell, or offer to sell or dispose of, or have in his possession with intent to sell or dispose of, an article of merchandise marked, stamped, or branded “sterling” or “sterling silver,” or encased or enclosed in a box, package, cover, wrapper, or other thing having thereon an engraving or printed label, stamp, imprint, mark, or trade-mark, indicating or denoting that such article is silver, sterling silver, or solid silver, unless nine hundred and twenty-five one-thousandths parts of the metal of which such article is manufactured is pure silver.