When you’re shopping for jewelry, it’s important to understand what the different markings stamped on the inside of the pieces mean.
This way, you can be sure that you’re getting the quality you expect and paid for – that you’re not being ripped off.
If you are shopping at a reputable jewelry store, then chances of being ripped off from buying an item that is not what it is advertised to be are extremely low.
Even if you bought a piece of jewelry from a Pawn shop, chances are still low because neither a reputable jewelry store or a Pawn shop will be willing to take a risk to buy or loan money for jewelry without testing the metal and gemstones for authenticity.
Ever since the early 1900s, there have been standards in place for marking the karat weight of gold, silver and platinum.
In order to ensure that a piece of jewelry is made of the quality of metal it’s supposed to be, it will be stamped with a karat mark.
In this article, we’ll discuss what jewelry marks mean and what they tell you about the jewelry you are considering just so you can feel a little more empowered.
So whether you’re buying a gift for someone special or treating yourself, read on to learn more!
Table of Contents
Who Determined The Markings To Stamp on Jewelry?
When fine jewelry is being created in the US of A, the manufacturer is mandated by law to stamp (hallmark) the jewelry to authenticate the type and purity of metal used in the piece.
This stands true for sterling silver also.
However, there was a period in history when this was not so, back when people tended to take the words of others as being true and sealed their deals with the simple firm shake of a hand.
We are usually talking about a hundred years back, but we can also be talking about jewelry that was custom made for a specific individual even today.
Some of the jewelry you see may also have other types of marks such as the specific marks of the maker or designer.
It can be tricky to find out who they are unless you are intimately acquainted with that particular maker or designer and know their mark.
The markings are determined by whomever is making the jewelry.
Different countries have different laws regarding this, or no laws at all.
If you see a mark inside a piece of jewelry, then the maker or manufacturer put it there deliberately because they want to ensure that you are aware of what you are buying and they are following the mandates of the law.
They may also put an additional mark inside so that you can identify exactly who has made or designed the piece, and may even go further to put the exact weight of the diamonds inside too so there is no guessing.
Frankly, any manufacturer of fine jewelry who wants to actually sell their product will not neglect to stamp the Karat of the metal at the very least.
Neglecting to do this will result in few to no sales if nothing else.
What Are The Markings on Jewelry?
Many different types of markings can be found on fine jewelry.
Most often, you will at the very least find a hallmark somewhere that indicates the purity and type of metal it is made from.
You may also find a name or the initials of the designer of the item such as “Tiffany & Co” for example or “Stuller” or “SB”.
Sometimes if you have acquired a piece of jewelry from overseas, you may find a pair of lions standing up facing each other which can indicate either Sterling Silver rather than a mark of .925, which is a short version of Sterling Silver rather than the longer version of “Sterling”.
It was also used to indicate gold, but does not necessarily indicate the purity of it.
Any one of these marks will do for starters to indicate that an item was made from a type of precious metal, but the lions also give a clue to indicate the age and country of origin of the item.
How fun is that?!
What Is a Hallmark?
The purpose of a hallmark stamp is to certify that an assay was used as proof of the purity and type of the metal that a piece of jewelry is made of.
Many countries now mandate this by law, some still don’t, but there is a global push underway to mandate that all countries comply with global regulations if they want to be a part of the new world order.
What Do The Different Markings on Gold Jewelry Mean
Gold Jewelry should be marked according to its purity level.
These range from anywhere from 9K to 24K gold. Marks can be used as something as simple as:
- “10K” to indicate the purity, or instead, the same purity can also be stamped “.417” which indicates the exact same thing. It is merely telling the consumer the level of the amount of pure gold contained in the item. In the case of the more common
- “14K” mark, you may also run across “.585” which means the same thing. Sometimes a stamp will have a “P” after the Karat which indicates “plumb” and this is a guarantee that the purity is exact rather than just .05% near exact. These marks can be looked up online as there are many of them in various forms.
- “18K” mark will be “.750” or “18K”.
- “22K” will be marked “22K” or “.916”.
- Platinum can be marked “Plat” or “.950” or even simply say “Platinum” or “PT”.
What Do The Different Markings on Silver Jewelry Mean
Silver can come in several different purities as well depending on whether or not it is coin silver or jewelry.
If coins, the marks will be in the form for pure coins such as found in Silver Eagles and will be stamped as 999.99 or “Fine” indicating pure silver with no added alloys.
Junk silver coins can range from 40% pure to 90% pure and you must look them up in a coin book to know what each type and year of coin contains because they simply are not stamped if they are not pure.
In jewelry, the purity is never more than .925 (92% pure) aka “Sterling” because any more pure than that will result in the silver being too soft for jewelry making.
But silver can be less than 92% pure such as .800 or even less.
It will usually be stamped as such.
What Do The Different Markings on Platinum Jewelry Mean
Platinum can be found in a couple different purity levels as well, but will most likely not be less than .900 (90% pure).
It can be stamped “Pt”, “PLAT”, or simply “Platinum.”
If it is 95% pure, it will usually be indicated as such as with a “950 Pt” or “950 Plat” stamp.
Antique Symbols Stamped on Jewelry
It begins to get fun and interesting when we start talking about antique stamps and markings on jewelry simply because most often those items were made over a hundred years ago or more, and overseas.
There are literally thousands of combinations of marks, because the makers wanted to be distinctively known for their own brand and skills.
Remember, there was no internet or air travel during those times to be able to advertise.
If a jewelry maker was ever to be known, they had to mark the items they made by something which clearly distinguished them from others in that trade and hope that word of mouth would net them sales.
If you are in the business of buying and selling jewelry or silverware from overseas then it is very important that you buy a book that has every possible known mark made in order to avoid making mistakes.
The only other recourse you will have is to get out your acids for testing purity if something is marked only with symbols, which as we know, can ruin the value of the item.
If you run across a piece of jewelry that you want to buy and are looking at the markings on it, ask the seller.
If they are honest and do not specialize solely in antique jewelry, most of the time they will only be able to tell you the purity of the metal either from the mark or symbol or by testing with acid, and what country of origin that it likely came from based on the appearance of other marks.
How To Identify Jewelry Markings
First you will need to know where to look depending on the type of jewelry:
| Jewelry | Location |
|---|---|
| Rings | Marks are generally found on the inside of the shank, but sometimes they are also found up inside the gallery or under the top. Savvy manufacturers or makers of jewelry take into consideration that a ring is often resized and then the marks might be removed to accommodate for that work. This is why you may find the marks up higher on the inside. |
| Bracelets | Marks are generally found on the tongue of the clasp or on the jump ring or even on one of the bracelet sections near them. They are usually found on the underside of the bracelet like everything else so as not to detract from the appearance. |
| Necklaces | Marks are usually found on the backside of the piece if there is any room in the design for it, or if not, they are found further up in the inside of the bale that the pendant dangles from. If the necklace is a chain rather than a pendant, it will be found on the tongue of the clasp if it has that style, on a lobster claw clasp (the part that moves back and forth) on the jump ring, or even on one of the links. |
| Earrings | Marks can usually be found on the post. You might get lucky and find that the marks can be found on the underside of the earrings where it can be more visible, but our experience is that manufacturers like to irritate customers in a passive aggressive way and put marks on the post so tiny that you need a microscope to find them. |
| Antique watches, watch fobs or brooches, rings and pins | Marks, if any, will be found on the backside, or inside the case of pocket watches, may be found on the inside of one of the case openings or on the lower portion of the outside on the back. Ring marks are usually found on the shank if they were built wide enough for them…but oftentimes there was no mark at all. |
How To Spot a Fake Jewelry Mark
First of all, fake jewelry by definition, is jewelry that is designed to deceive others into believing that they acquired an item that was real or authentic when it is not.
Fake jewelry is not going to be marked in such a way that is going to be discernible as being fake to the average person.
People who make and sell fake jewelry will either use no hallmark at all, or will use the proper hallmarks and take their chances of being caught selling the junk.
Example:
We needed some sterling silver chains in a hurry and so we bought a small bundle of them from someone who we thought was a reputable chain dealer.
Now to be fair, up till then, we had no question that they were, but at some point they made the mistake of buying in bulk from another dealer who bought his wares from China.
So we ended up with chains that had a tiny cute little oval tab that was dangling on a jump ring near the clasp (how posh looking!).
That tiny oval tab was marked as .925 which we know to be sterling silver.
Except they were not…only that cute little tab was actually sterling silver, the rest of the chain was made from silver plated brass.
In other words, they used a technicality which implied the whole piece was made of sterling.
What was the give away?
Well, we knew that both silver and gold necklaces and chains have jump rings that attach to the clasp and these are always soldered closed so the chain does not easily fall apart.
We opened our package and immediately noticed that the jump rings were pinched closed but were not soldered.
Then we got out the acid and tested the chains and found them to be fake.
This can happen to any type of so-called “jewelry” nowadays, and the hallmark on them can be just as fake as the jewelry itself is.
This is why you must know who your dealers are and shop at a store who will guarantee what they sell or your money back.
Too many dealers who sell to reputable jewelry stores have started buying from overseas and will do so because of the cheaper costs.
While they may widen their profit margins at first, they will also lose out on dealing with the vast majority of businesses once the fake stuff is discovered and word quickly spreads.
Bottom line is that if you are going to buy fake jewelry, you should know without a doubt that it is indeed fake before you buy it, and is not being sold or passed off for something that is real.
Gold Filled: Is it considered as being “fake” jewelry?
Gold filled jewelry has a thin layer of gold sandwiched between other base metals.
When you opt to buy gold filled, you should reckon that it does not have a high amount of gold metal content in it simply by the price point comparative to the weight, and by looking at the marks on the piece.
Failing to find marks, you can ask the store to get out their magnet or testing acid (which they should have already done prior to setting it out for sale).
Many pieces of antique jewelry, from pocket watches and fobs, to necklaces and rings were made from gold filled metal or “rolled gold”.
These were not considered as being fake like costume jewelry was back then, they were considered as being a more affordable gold!
While they do have far less gold content in them, they still have the workmanship and intricacies of the more expensive fine jewelry available for the very few elite of that Era.
So no, gold filled is not “fake” as if it were marked and pretending to be something other than what it really is, it simply has far less gold content.
What does “14K HGE” mean on a ring?
14K HGE is a weasel word to make you think the piece is made out of 14k gold.
It is not.
HGE means it is electroplated with a very thin layer of gold over a base metal. The “H” stands for Heavy and the “E” stands for electroplate.
If you browse through the mall, or in Rite Aid for that matter, you will run across many areas that sell jewelry on large unsecured displays.
Any toddler can reach out with their sticky fingers and snag a piece from their stroller.
They are jammed packed with items that are either gold or silver plated.
They are cheap (less expensive than your fast food dinner that night), they look really nice and are probably items that you may actually want to buy to wear when traveling or visiting out of state.
But gold plated jewelry are simply not pieces that you will think belong in a safe deposit box.
As a matter of fact, you’d not think twice about leaving them laying on top of your dresser when the cleaning ladies arrive.
If you lost an earring, you may say “shucks that was cute” or “oh well, good thing it was fake”, and you probably won’t even bother to tell a friend about the loss like you might if you lost a bona fide piece of antique gold filled jewelry.
Final Thoughts
Do your research before buying jewelry, know what the marks are that you should be looking for to validate an item, and be extra careful about buying online.
Use a credit card if you do buy online so that your credit card company can process a chargeback if you find that the jewelry that was advertised as being real but was actually fake.