QuestionHi and I hope you are doing well. I bought some rings that seem to have the look and weight of gold, but some only have an "H" stamped on them and some have a dot in the center of a square stamped on them. Are these indicating a certain karat amount of gold content in the rings please? Thank you, shaffer4094 @ yahoo.com
AnswerHi, Allen.
This is a fine question. People not in the jewelry business are understandably uncertain of what is a quality mark for metal. Unfortunately, some sales folks in jewelry stores are not able to explain the markings, either.
Neither of the marks you have described are recognized as metal quality marks in the USA or in other countries with markings of which I am familiar. Your marks likely indicate the manufacturer.
In the USA, metal is described by abbreviations, whole words or numerals. The abbreviations may say PT for platinum, for instance. Gold is generally marked by karat or parts per thousand of pure gold in the metal alloy recipe. Pure gold is 24k or 24 karat. Lower karats indicate less pure gold in the jewelry metal. Another example, 18k is 18 karat meaning 18 parts pure gold and the rest is other metal. All must add up to 24 karat total, so 18k is 18/24 pure gold, 18 parts out of 24 pure gold or by numerals 750. (Just think of the numerals as a percent, 75% pure gold.) The markings will always indicate a metal or a numerical value associated directly in common usage with a particular metal. 14k is also 583 in technically correct math of 14/24...but Europeans upped the amount a slight bit to 585 and other countries have followed. So, 14k gold may be marked 585 more often than the on the mark 583.
Silver is sold as sterling, a legal definition of a particular quantity of pure silver. Sterling silver means by definition that the metal contains 925 or 92.5% pure silver.
Allen, your marks do not tell me what metal the rings are. If gold, a simple test by a jewelry store will let you know. (Law requires that a maker put the maker's mark in the item if the metal quality is stamped and both marks are generally there.) I you want the items tested, call around first to see if the local places test gold. Some businesses are not set up to do the testing. However, with gold prices so very high today, many stores are purchasing scrap jewelry items and have set up to do the testing even if they did not in previous years.
Best wishes in what you have. I do hope the little rundown of quality marking is helpful.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
