QuestionQUESTION: When was the 14 K marking first used on gold, in the USA?
ANSWER: Hello Sandra
The exact year of the first 14K gold marking in USA is not known to me, but the World Gold Council established the Gold Mark in the year 1992, if that helps.
Best regards
Sambhav Karnawat
Jewelove (TM)
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: The date is essential to my knowing the timeframe for a piece of jewelry that I have.....it's pretty useless to describe it, as it is unique - in German and mis-spelled English, supposedly from a religious community in Ohio. It is marked 10K, so this should tell me that the piece could be NO earlier than when it was mandatory to mark jewelry.
Thanks anyway...I just can't figure out why it is so hard to discover when gold jewelry HAD to be marked.
AnswerReferring to old archives, in the year 1906, It was made mandatory for Gold Jewelry (above 10K) to be hallmarked in the USA.
But as you mention that the ring maybe of European origin, I'd like to inform you that in some European countries hallmarking started as early as the 14th century.
The earliest records of hallmarked jewelry have been found in:
England - 1300s
France - 1700s
Germany - Late Nineteenth century
Hope you find the information useful.
