What do the numbers stamped on jewelry mean

A rectangular shape with the corners shaved off will tell you immediately that the item is gold. An oval stamp would indicate the item is silver. A 'house' shaped mark is used for platinum items. The number inside the shape is called the millesimal stamp number - this will tell you the actual precious metal content or the purity of the precious metal. Please note - different countries may have different hallmarking standards so the marking you see on your items may differ.

Below are some common purity hallmarks:. A Makers Mark is the designer, manufacturing firm or representative symbol that is stamped into your precious metal - also called trademarks. This mark provides proof that your jewelry item was made by the designer or jewelry maker and is considered "signed".

All marks need to be registered by an Assay Office. The Assay Office Mark tells you where your item was tested for its purity.

Although manufacturing of precious metals has existed for hundreds of years, it only started in the U. So many older items in the U. Even in the U. This stamp will tell you the year the purity of the item was tested - not the year the item was manufactured.

Legal Requirements for Metal Stamps on Jewelry Although many people assume that jewelry manufacturers are required to stamp their pieces with metal content, this is not always the case. These are the legal requirements: Jewelry manufacturers in the United States must inform the consumer about precious metal content, but the content doesn't actually have to be stamped on the piece.

It can be on the appraisal accompanying the item, on a hang tag or packaging component, or on the invoice or receipt for the purchase. If the manufacturer does stamp the piece with metal content, they are required to place their trademark or the retailer's trademark right next to the metal content stamp. Legally, this assures the consumer that the company making or selling the jewelry will stand behind the metal content they are identifying. There is no legal stamping requirement for non-precious metals, such as tungsten, stainless steel, and titanium.

Types of Metal Markings You may notice the following metal stamps or markings on your jewelry: Marking What It Means A number, followed by "k" or "karat" The item is gold. Maker's Marks It's also common to see other marks on jewelry. If you're unsure what company the mark represents, look it up in one of the following resources: The Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks, and Maker's Marks is a great resource for identifying sterling silver and silver-plated jewelry from any era.

Illusion Jewels has a wealth of information about identifying costume jewelry based on trademarks. Patents Some jewelry pieces, particularly items with unique structural qualities like Italian charm bracelets , may even have a patent number stamped somewhere on them. Engravings and Monograms While many jewelry marks are present at the time the jewelry is manufactured, that's not always the case.

Learn More About Your Jewelry Whether you're trying to find out if your ring is gold or gold-plated or you're hoping to discover some of the history behind a beautiful antique brooch, understanding the markings on your jewelry can come in handy. Silver Hallmarks Explained in Simple Terms. By Kate Miller-Wilson. Antique Gold Markings. Monet Jewelry Evolution Over Time. Eventually, these markings where then modified to identify a given goldsmith involved in the manufacturing as a branding stamp.

Why have these marking continued into modern times with all the paperwork available and ability to digitally record data by the millions of records with computers? The reason is simple. How easily can the average person tell one gold jewellery item from another? Some think that the colour of the gold makes a difference that can be used as a metric but, in reality, most people just examining gold by eyesight alone cannot tell the difference between a 14 karat gold ring and a 24 karat gold ring-shaped the same.

And that reason by itself has been more than enough to maintain the hallmark and stamp system that has existed for so many years. The use of gold hallmarks is definitely not new. In fact, the very first usage of gold jewellery hallmarks dates back to the s.

Hallmarking was invented to both identify the purity of the gold involved in a jewellery item as well as to identify who rated the piece and whether they could be trusted as a tester. Both were invaluable in a time when gold was regularly used for premium jewellery, coins and value protection. During the period of Edward I in England and Louis IX in France craft guilds were the dominant skilled-manufacturing force in Europe, and they were not without their local politics.

To insure that what was produced by the guilds was indeed the advertised quality, state government assayers came into being as an objective regulator of sorts over guild products made with precious metals. Soon becoming successful, early craftmarking became a required prerequisite for any gold merchants who were going to sell a gold product in the regulated community. A century later, Edward III was recorded awarding the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths a royal charter for their work and skill as well as brand protection, a form of early monopoly of the jewellery market.

Fast forward to modern times, and gold items sold in the United Kingdom are regularly hallmarked, the only exception being products that individually weigh under 1 gram.

The U. Different countries have different hallmarking systems, and so the stamps on the jewellery involved vary depending where there were created geographically. London is the most famous but the three others are in Birmingham, Edinburgh and Sheffield.

Across the pond, however, the U. Where a U. China and India have no required system, and hallmark stamping in both countries is entirely a voluntary act. No surprise, the variation leads to a lot of doubt and extra testing on products from these countries. Common gold names include Arezzo and Valenza, for example. Amazingly, hallmark stamping in Switzerland is entirely voluntary unless the gold is in the form of a metal watch case.

The above said, Europe came together in and tried to standardize hallmarking via a convention agreement better known today as the Vienna System. It is rare today to find gold jewellery sold in major markets without some kind of stamp, etching or hallmark for indication of quality and make.

While these markings might be very hard for the average person to see or make out, experts know exactly what to look for right away. That said, there is still a lot of a variation in the stamps used, which still creates confusion in typing of a piece, even for a jewellery buyer.

Fortunately, the large majority of items fall in line with the standards most manufacturers follow. The first big stamp to look for is the purity grade. This one matters the most to a gold buyer Auckland expert. While it can be different forms, the stamp indicates the type of gold used in the jewellery, ranging from 10 karat to 24 karat gold. The marking will either be an obscure 3-digit numeric set, such as , or it could be an obvious tell such as 14k for 14 karat.

The 3-digit reference ties in with a common standards chart where number sets dictate the percentage of gold involved. The 3-digit stamp sequence generally gets identified as follows:. Many times jewellery made with precious metals like gold will also have additional markings to help specify the content. This is common where the jewellery item is made with a combination of metals versus a high content value of just gold.

An immediate rejection from a jewellery buyer Auckland expert may be due to spotting these symbols right away. There may also be the addition of a single-digit number on rings to help identify quickly the ring size instead of having to measure on a ring-stick. In the old days the markings put into a jewellery item were applied with a steel punch.

In most cases the jewellery metal was softer, making this application a fairly easy if sensitive process to get the punch applied without damaging the item itself. Today, however, metal punching is extremely rare.