QuestionI have a beautiful vintage locket that I want to find out more about. It is about 2" tall, and I believe it is silver. On the back there is a line of three small hallmarks - a small "g", a sideways anchor, and a lion. Above those is another hallmark with WF in it. The front of the locket has a lovely floral design with rose and green colored silver ~ really pretty. The back does have some "dents" in it from something. I can send pics if you need them! Mainly I'm trying to find out it's age, and possible value. Thanks so much ~
AnswerG'day Aimee and many thanks for your query.
What you have here is a classic British Hallmark. If you need to find out more about UK Hallmarks there is a complimentary course available here (recommended):
http://www.online-jewelry-appraisals.com/free-hallmark-course/
The small 'g' is the Date letter to indicate when it was made, while the anchor is the assay office mark showing it was made in Birmingham. The Lion is a quality mark to show it is Sterling silver.
The other mark 'WF' is simply the Makers mark or store name or design identification mark - but you have left off some of the most important information such as the SHAPE of the Hallmark Stamp and the type of Font used in the letters - uppercase, lowercase, old English etc.
You need all that information too, but I would suggest you read the Hallmarking Course first and then get the experts in our Member's Area to finally pin it down.
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...
