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Tuesday, September 4, 2007

A Quick Look at Jewelry Hallmarks

British Hallmarks are the best in the world.

Who says so, the rest of the World. Although to be fair, other countries have great hallmarks too, it is just that they are NOT so often seen.

A book on World Hallmarks for Gold or Silver items is a must for any serious collector or dealer, but they can be a little intimidating and time consuming. Is that mark a Cockerel or a Tree? Could it be made in Switzerland or Germany?

Thankfully for the rest of us, a small pocket book on UK Hallmarks is more than up to the task, coupled with that very useful plastic 10X eyeglass I keep on hinting for you to buy.

It will show you that the item has been tested and stamped, to prove it is - what it says it is (9ct or 18ct etc).

British Jewelry with a full UKHM (United Kingdom Hall Mark) is generally clearly stamped and readable after you clean it (check the website below for another complimentary article on 'How to Clean your Jewelry at Home').

Once you are aware of the marks, you will always feel just that little bit better when you buy that 'Could it be an Antique?' item at the local market, or from the guy in the Pub that everyone talks about but nobody knows.

Buyer Beware....

*Six marks on British Jewelry.*

Yes... Six?

# 1: The Maker's Mark (Usually some initials). Not all that important for everyday items, unless you want to collect Jewelry from one maker. Silver collectors may want to buy items from say, Bateman (I should be so lucky).

# 2: The second stamp is the Assay Office mark or 'Mark of Origin'. It tells you where the item came from. The most common is the LONDON Hallmark. A Leopard's Head. Sometimes this has a crown on the Leopard's Head (until circa 1821). Modern items do NOT have a crown on the Leopard Stamp.

The other most common Assay Office marks are from Birmingham (an Anchor). Once there were many Assay offices around Great Britain and Ireland, the Chester mark for instance. Now there are just three offices left in England, Sheffield being the last using a 'Rose' on gold Jewelry (DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH 'ROSE GOLD' JEWELRY) as that is a color, not a mark.

In Scotland there is Edinburgh, while in Ireland there is Dublin. Pity the poor Welsh are left out again!

# 3: The next is the Assay Quality mark and is shown as the 'Lion Passant' (which means 'looking ahead') and is a guarantee of quality. This was later changed to a 'CROWN' mark with a stamp showing the quality of Gold.... 9ct or 18ct etc.

# 4: Finally, and possibly the most important mark, was the Date letter mark. It changed each year so we can tell when the item was made.

Occasionally there is an extra mark.

# 5: An example was the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.

Suffice to say if you see a Brooch with four or five marks and one of them is an Anchor with an 18 next to it and a letter 'C' next to that.... It's a safe bet it was made in Birmingham in 1927, or was that 1952, or 1902, or, or, or.....

Buyer Beware the man in the Pub.

As with most Jewelry items though, our advise has always been to buy the best QUALITY you can afford from a reputable dealer who will guarantee it.

Other than that, your plastic 10X eyeglass sure helps a lot....

P.S.
If you administer a website or publish an ezine, please feel free to use this article as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content and include our resource box as listed below. Although it's NOT compulsory I would personally appreciate it if you could send me an email at: gemmo1@online-jewelry-appraisals.com to let me know if and where you used it. If you need other great content - complimentary of course - then drop me a line at the email address given - 'cause I've got Quality Content and Gallons of the stuff....

(c)David Foard - All Rights reserved

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The Port Fiasco - It's a GOP Trick

The quarterback drops back to pass and he fakes handing off to the fullback. While the onrushing tacklers go for the fullback the quarterback sneaks to the outside and hits the left uncovered tight end with the game winning Hail Mary pass to win the championship football game. In a move worthy of David Copperfield the Grand Old Party has come up with the sleight of hand move of the century.

The Republican Party is in power because Karl Rove is calling the plays better than any Democrat. His quarterback George Bush was a deserter. The opposition quarterback John Kerry was a decorated war hero. No problem. Hire a few actors to go on television in a swift boat and say that John Kerry was actually a Viet Cong colonel who tortured John McCain.

The Presidents father, the former President, told his son the President, Look, I lost the Presidency because I said Read my lips, no new taxes. Then I raised the taxes and I lost the Presidency. If you want to win the Presidency and become President, all you have to do is to cut taxes. Who cares if the deficit goes to a trillion dollars, and the trade deficit goes to a trillion dollars, and we bankrupt the country? You will be President, I will sit on the board of directors of the Saudi Royal Family, they will funnel billions of oil dollars into our Swiss bank accounts, and let the next President worry about it while we live on yachts in the French Riviera drinking fine French port wine. The President answered, O.K. Dad.

Here is the Port Trick, otherwise known in Karl Roves playbook as 53 Red. The congressional elections are coming up in November. Every Republican congressman and congresswoman is doing everything possible to distance him/herself from the Presidents glaring lies, mismanagement of the war in Iraq, the imminent bankruptcy of the country and the Superdome fiasco. The President, the Senate and the House are all Republican and they are all going down the drain like American jobs fleeing to China, whose new car the Geeli is about to hit the U.S. market for $9,000 and get 225 miles per gallon. This all makes Ross Perot sound like the Prophet Isaiah.

So how do the Republicans stay in power in November? The Islamic Barbarianism over a stupid cartoon has every American even more fearful and hateful of the Muslims than after 911. So Karl Rove decides to pretend to sell all of the American Shipping Ports, New York, Miami, etc. to the Muslim countries responsible for funding and planning and harboring the 911 crews. The President says to him, Karl, we cant do that; theyll lynch me on the lawn of the White House. Karl says to George, Dont worry about it George. Have I failed you yet?

While the country now goes wild over the prospect of Osama bin Laden and Aymen Al Zwahiri shipping nuclear weapons to Al Qaeda cells in Manhattan, the Republican congress is now going to come to the rescue like John Wayne leading the cavalry and block the sale. Then, the Republican congress people are going to say to the American people during the upcoming political campaign, Look, we didnt follow George Bush. We saved you from him. We stopped Osama Bin Laden from owning your ports. Initially the bogus plan called for selling all of the American airports to Iran, but while Karl Rove and the Bushwhackers were rolling around laughing on the floor of the Oval Office at the thought of it, Karl said in a drunken stupor, The American people may be gullible, but they arent that gullible.

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