QuestionI was recently presented with a nice looking tennis bracelet as exchange for work I had done. He claimed it was 3.5 ct of diamonds and that it was made of platinum.
The diamonds were genuine as tested with a meter, but the metal mark on the clasp read 14KFE. The owner claimed this meant it was platinum, but I have handled platinum jewelry before and it was marked with a purity percentage.
What was this mark?
AnswerPaul, this is an easy one for me. The clasp is made of 14k gold and the maker is signed as FE. If this is the original clasp, the entire bracelet is going to be 14k. Does the clasp match the bracelet in metal appearance?
You may have a jeweler check the body of the bracelet to know for certain if it is gold or another metal such as platinum. The real question is if the clasp is the original or has a lest costly 14k clasp been used to replace a broken platinum one in the past history of the bracelet.
You are right in that percentages or numerals are used for much platinum but numerals are also used for gold, with 583 or more commonly 585 used for 14k. (14k is legally 58.3% pure gold in the mix but Europeans began raising the quality a tad to 58.5% and that is the accepted standard mark, even if actually 0.585 x 24k = 14.04k. Platinum may also be marked with an abbreviation such as PT or PLAT for 950 platinum or with added % or "900" to show if the 900 variety.
In any regard, the person telling you the marks mean platinum is either quite confused or deliberately untruthful.
Paul, thanks for this question. I believe I have provided enough for you to go.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
