Identifying Antique Gold Ring Hallmarks: A Detailed Guide

Question
QUESTION: my wife has a ring from her great great grandmother, i am having a few problems with the hallmarks we have a makers mark GB inside a stamp which is inside an eight shaped stamp i know it's english and made in london, then we have the crown then the 18 being gold then the leopard without the crown then a p and of course i would find it hard to explain the shape of the stamp but when i check hallmark only silver come up and if i were to go off that it would be 1830ish  what i need to know is where can i find gold hallmarks for me to compare with rather than silver... thanks Wayne

ANSWER: Hi Wayne,

The short answer is to look it up on the internet search for "gold hallmarks" and you will find a number of sources to answer your questions. I found at least 5 different sources. Give it a try.

Peter

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QUESTION: yes thanks peter i have done that several times and found some marks but in silver and when it comes to makers mark only in comes up in silver, George baskerville but the stamp is slightly different, is there a link that gives gold only.. thanks Wayne

ANSWER: Hi Wayne,

The five 'marks' in British jewlery are:
1.The 'Sponsors mark' - The mark of the product manufacturer.
2.The millesimal fineness mark - Reflecting pure metal content.
3.The Assay Office mark - Denotes London, Birmingham, Sheffield or Edinburgh.
4.The Metal mark - Denotes platinum, gold or silver.
5.The Date mark - Denotes which year the item was assayed.

So as you can see they are the same for gold. platinum or silver. only the #4 mark designates the metal. So those other marks are not exclusive to one metal. There are many charts from new to old that decipher these marks but I can't get them to copy on the page. Some are at  http://goldhallmarks.net/, http://www.assayoffice.co.uk/Services/UK_Hallmarks.asp,
www.damelt.co.uk/hallmark.html,
www.buybacks-online.com/hallmarks.html
http://www.modernsilver.com/basichallmarks.htm

and many more. Thanks

Peter

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QUESTION: still not having a lot of luck, the only thing stopping me is the sponsors mark if its the same as in silver than why is it not identical as there are only two of them.  thanks Wayne

Answer
Wayne,

Those are just samples there are hundreds if not thousands of "makers marks" out there and it takes some digging to find them. But since you have most of the information already you should be able to run it down. Don't give up now!

Peter