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Clues for identifying Vintage or Antique Jewelry

by Rajsi Jewellers Buy Indian antique silver jewellery online at reas
Jewelry reflects culture, time and societal values. Also, it mirrors the attitude and taste of every time in past. There are certainly some clues that you can use to identify how old your jewelry piece is. The rarer and older the jewelry piece, the more precious it will be. There are some vital clues and some easy and fast methods to find out the age of your jewelry piece.

Maker’s Marks

Well, this may consist of designer signatures, company names, trademarks, and logos to determine the creator of the jewelry. For example, Tiffany & Co (a reputed jewelry house) has created several makers’ marks during their 179-year history, comprising “T & Co.” and “Tiffany & Co.”. Special version Tiffany & Co. compilations made by designers Elsa Peretti, Jean Schlumberger, Paloma Picasso, and Frank Gehry also provide the designers’ signatures on their jewelry. With vintage and antique silver jewellery, French company Cartier had to follow numerous guidelines set by the government of France. Lately, Cartier jewelry is always imprinted with the Cartier logo, together with a key-number that is unique for that design only.

Purity Marks

Such purity marks on gold jewelry item will include a 2-digit number along with a 3-digit number or the letter “k” which refers to karats. Any jewelry piece that have an engraving of “750” or “18k” shows that it is created of 75%gold, whereas a “585” or “14k” mark shows that the jewelry is created of 58.5% gold. Jewelry imprinted with GF (Gold Filled), GE (Gold Electroplate), or HGE (Heavy Gold Electroplate) may seem to be created of gold, however it’s actually formed from other metals like copper and includes just a small quantity of gold.

Other Letters and Symbols


Besides maker’s marks and purity, some jewelry will also contain letters and symbols, especially hallmarks, engraved on it.  Most of these letters and symbols found on jewelry invent from examine offices. Jewelry items from UK include a series of optional and compulsory jewelry marks fixed by the assay offices of the nation. Assay Office Mark is one of the obligatory marks. This is a mark that shows the district office that hallmarked the product: a rose for Sheffield, a leopard’s head to indicate London, a castle to indicate Edinburgh, and an anchor indicates Birmingham. International, especially European jewelry usually has hallmarks, whereas American jewelry is typically stamped 18k, and 14k. Hallmarks say to the full story of the item, and typically what nation the product originates from, plus the date made and artist name.

The date memo stamp, a condition for British jewelry pieces until 1999, is helpful to understand if you require dating a piece of vintage or antique silver jewellery. Silver jewelry items engraved with a lion signifies a 92.5% silver – therefore it’s a sterling silver – whereas the Britannia mark implies that it contain 95.8% pure silver. An eagle’s head on gold jewelry item shows that the jewelry was originated from France plus it contains at least 18k gold.


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Created on Jan 31st 2018 01:10. Viewed 759 times.

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