How hallmarks help with antique and vintage jewellery
By
silver hallmark on locket
OK – Part one of my mini series on reading gold and silver hallmarks. Before we learn how to read them I though it would be useful to look at what useful information they tell us.
As far as I am concerned it is wonderful to find a piece of antique or vintage jewellery with a full set of British hallmarks. From a full set of British hallmarks on vintage and antique jewellery you can tell:
- what metal the jewellery is made of ( gold, silver or platinum)
- what the quality of that metal is ( 9 carat or 22 carat gold?)
- the date the piece was hallmarked ( 1870 or 1970?)
- the town it was hallmarked in
- the sponsors mark of the company who had the piece hallmarked ( often the maker or artist but could be a retailer)
So from these tiny marks we can gain really accurate and guaranteed information. No wonder antique British jewellery is so popular to collect.More recently (since 1999) the British hallmarking system has changed and we can often get less information but that will affect vintage collectors of the future rather than those of today. At least we can tell that the piece is after 1999. Each European country has a different set of marks some useful, others very difficult. I will cover other European countries later on.
Before we go any further arm yourself with a loup ( a jewellers 10x magnifying glass) and carefully clean out the dirt from the hallmarks on the metal. They are often so clogged up you cant read them. Unless you are certain that all the gems set into your jewellery are safe to clean do take care and seek specialist advice before carrying out this step. I also find that pen and paper is handy – copy out the hallmarks the letters and shapes. This means that you can use the hallmark tables without needing to keep examining the piece.
You are going to find a huge variety of marks and also many of your pieces of jewellery will not have any hallmarks – I will cover how to identify jewellery without hallmarks at a later date
12 Comments
March 12th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
[...] my previous post on vintage jewellery hallmarks I have received a couple of queries about loupes – where to get one, which one to choose and how to [...]
March 12th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
[...] – how hallmarks help us when looking at antique and vintage jewellery [...]
March 25th, 2009 at 10:26 am
[...] see my recent mini series on using hallmarks to date your vintage and antique [...]
March 27th, 2009 at 12:15 am
[...] Anne added an interesting post on How hallmarks help with antique and vintage jewellery :: Antiques …Here’s a small excerptAs far as I am concerned it is wonderful to find a piece of antique or vintage jewellery with a full set of British hallmarks. From a full set of British hallmarks on vintage and antique jewellery you can tell: … [...]
June 29th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
pls help, I have what I believe to be a White gold diamond ring although no jeweller I have visited knows the hallmark or can confirm what the metal is, it’s says “375 DIA” does anyone know what this is??? pls help
lou x
July 1st, 2009 at 8:16 am
Hi Lou,
375 is the standard fo 9 carat gold. Dia will be for diamond – I hope this helps
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I have a piece of jewelry with 18ct anchor hallmark with numbers 625. Please can anyone help as to what the anchor / numbers mean.
many thanks
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Hello,
Is it possible that the numbers are 925? The anchor is the symbol for Birmingham where it would have been hallmarked
Anne
February 24th, 2010 at 5:02 am
Hello, I have a pair of cufflinks W G C. Each letter is in a symbol. They are also marked G 1/4 F. I was just wondering if anyone knows any info. They appear to be gold.thank you
February 24th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Hi,
Cant be sure without seeing these but the GF suggests that they are gold filled. Possibly a layer of gold over a metal core. I hope this helps
Anne
March 28th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I have a ring that belonged inthe family for a time now.
It is a masonic ring. The ‘hallmarks’ inside the band have stumped everyone so far. There are 5 ‘boxes’ with the following incryptions,
1) J.N.W or J.M.W
2) 9
3) .375
4) unclear…anchour or lion or some animal
5) appears to a ’7′
other…outside the ‘boxes’, on the left, is a symbol of a what appears to be a wishbone ‘>’.
Perhaps this is the site can help.
Kevin
March 28th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Hi Kevin,
Sorry its impossible to even guess from the informaiton you give. Can you send me a good clear close up photo and I will take a look
Anne