German Gold Hallmarks On Jewelry

The purity mark can be accompanied by a second mark called a maker s mark or a jeweller s stamp.

German gold hallmarks on jewelry.

Identifying stamps vary with the region. Silver and gold jewelry markings are commonly known as purity marks maker s marks symbols or date letters. Markham 1898 hand book to foreign hall marks on gold and silver plate. Gold jewelry will often have different numbers inscribed or etched in them to signify the metal s karat content.

Gold traders has compiled a gold hallmark identification wizard to help decipher the markings that are stamped on your item. Hallmarks have been used in england and france as indicators of the purity or quality of precious metal items since the 14th century and most other european countries use hallmarks as well. Gold hallmarks guarantee the gold content of jewelry and the hallmark on your antique jewelery item can also can give an. In a marks list database one might find an array of hallmarks and maker s marks plus information regarding the date and place of origin and the makeup and composition of the piece too.

There are various factors that determine the color of the gold. Hallmark research institute 2010. A lot of jewelry will have several stamps or marks. Minimum silver fineness is 800 1000 but 830 835 900 925 and 935 purities are also used.

Traditional or classic jewelry exclusively based on a gold hallmark. Several pieces of jewelry were never hallmarked and some of them have been damaged with wear and use. Since 1888 germany uses uniform marks for silver and gold. Germany made in western germany and western germany.

Redman 1893 illustrated hand book of hall marks and date letters from 1509 to 1920 on ecclesiastical and domestic plate. If it was made in a country that adheres to the convention on the control and marking of articles of precious metals otherwise known as the common control mark you should find a set of hallmarks stamps. One is the alloy used to combine with gold while the other is the. In addition the fine content and maker s marks are used.

Have a look at your piece of jewellery. There are about a dozen numbers in between from 10k or 417 to 23k or 950. These are custom stamps or engravings placed in jewelry by whomever manufactured it. These marks include west germany made in west germany w.

Most of the time gold marks were wrong. Knowing this bit of history makes it relatively easy to date costume jewelry with the west germany marks to the time period between 1949 and 1990. Often there is one stamp to indicate the purity of the gold 14k as mentioned above. From contemporary pieces to antique jewelry letter markings on gold jewelry silver and other metals can offer useful insight on the materials epoch and producer of a piece.

These marks are the crescent and crown halbmond und reichskrone for silver and the sun and crown sonne und reichskrone for gold.