Understanding Victorian Jewelry: What Does '9C' Mean?

Question
i have a pendant from the victorian period and it is stamped 9c/ what does this mean as far as karat wght. or doeas it refer to diamond weight there are two inlaid diamonds one just above the other one is a round and the other is a baggett

Answer
Darby,

The best possibility without seeing your pendant is that the 9c refers to the metal quality. While 9 karat is not used in the USA, it is an accepted gold quality in the UK. Why the "c" you might wonder?  In the UK, karat is spelled carat, the same word as used for stone carat weight but meaning the metal quality.

9c is 9 parts fine gold with the rest being alloy metals.  It is figured this way to get the numerical marking:  9k/24k = 0.375.   It is 37.5% pure gold in the mix or 375 parts pure gold out of 1000 parts total. (24 represents pure gold at 24k.)  A 9k item stamped in the more modern use of numerals would be 375, with the other stamps of the British system.

I hope this clears it up.  You still might want a jeweler to check it out if there is possibly more to learn about the old pendant.

Thanks for the question. God Bless and Peace.  Thomas.