QuestionI have a piece of jewelry received after the death of a friend who was 95 at the time of her death. Her parents were from Germany. I have no idea how old the piece is. It is a gold chain (unsure if original chain) with a 3/4 inch oval aquamarine set in gold with small diamonds in the gold. The setting (and I'm assuming the stone) are almost 1/2 inch deep. The back has interesting engraved markings including what looks like 2 crossed feathers under a loop with a dot on either side. All of this is under an arced line with 5 dots above it. A friend who collects jewelry said she thought it looked English. Any ideas?
AnswerG'day Kammie and many thanks for your query.
There are two points I would make here, but remember I can't see the item.
Firstly, you need to get your local FRIENDLY jeweler gemologist valuer to do a full appraisal. It will cost, but it is the only way you are going to know if the item is real, and can stop Guessing.
Secondly, the jewelry doesn't have an English Hallmark which has been in place since the 14th Century - yes 700 years!
The UK British Hallmark is very specific and shows not only when an item was made but what quality and where it was assayed as well.
There is a complimentary British Hallmarking course available here:
http://www.online-jewelry-appraisals.com/free-hallmark-course/ and if you don't read it yourself, I suggest you pass it on to your collector friend.
You might also like to add this query to my blog at http://online-jewelry-appraisals.com/ as other may have had a similar problem. Can't hurt anyway and who knows what answers you may get.
Hope this helps...
