Antique Jewelry Fair | Valuation Systems

Question: HI David,

I have inherited a ring which is quite old. I know its origin is the UK. It has a makers mark of J.H&S, the number 9, the number 375, an anchor, and a letter k in italics.

I am just wondering if you could help me with the age of this ring, and possibly the makers mark,

Kind regards

Chey

To see the answer…

Answer: G’day Chey and many thanks for your query.

Let’s take the marks one at a time, because they are classic UK Full Hallmarks.

The first is simply the Maker’s Mark or Manufactures stamp. In this case the JH&S is probably a store name such as John Hill and Sons - or something similar. It has NO relevence to the hallmark so we can ignore it.

The number 9 and 375 are the same - 9 carat gold. The 375 is simply the parts per thousand mark showing that the item has 375 parts of gold in the alloy mix while the other 625 parts are usually silver, copper and zinc.

The anchor is the assay office mark for Birmingham. This is where the item was made (or thereabouts) and registered for tax and confirming it is the above quality.

The lowercase letter k gives us the date letter BUT in this case you have missed off the MOST IMPORTANT part of the Hallmark - Don’t worry - everyone does this!

We need to know the SHAPE of the stamp AND the style of the font letter (uppercase - lowercase - old english or fancy etc) because letter series change every 20 years or so.

For example - the lowercase k in a Shield shape is for the year 1808 while a fancy scroll letter k in a concave framed stamp is for 1959. As you can see there are lots of variations to the date letter.

You might like to visit the 20th Century Jewelry website at http://www.jewellery-antiques.com/ because apart from tons of info, they also have a complimentary email course on British Hallmarks which will give you a better insight into the subject.

If you track the date down, why not add the information to my blog at: http://online-jewelry-appraisals.com so I can share it with others.

Hope this helps.