Jewelry & Gemstones Resources

Old Unusual Ring Marks Question: Hello, I have an unusual ring that appears to be very old.

European Designer Jewelry/a Schiffer Book for Collectors (Design)

Price: $56.76

Small gold band with 2 stones (sapphire and citrine) and 3 diamonds on each side.

Inside markings are hexagon with 004 inside and a star followed by 1698V and another letter I am not sure of.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Answer: G’day Debbie and many thanks for your query.

I assume you want to know about the hallmarks but unfortunately that is the hardest part in jewelry.

You see there is NO central registry of Maker’s Marks and every country (and regions within countries) have different marks. There are great Hallmarks from places like the UK or Europe, but America has always been poor in this regard.

Today with the largest manufacturing base being China and South East Asia, you can see how some factories may stamp their jewelry and not give a damn about official marks at all - or even know about them.

The hexagon is common as is the star. The 1698V may just be a design or model identification. The shape of the stamp is also important, as is the type of font and letters used.

There are HUGE databases and books which try to pull all this information together and it may take months if not years to track an unfamiliar mark down.

If you have the time try one of my favorite sites and start tracking. It is at: http://www.925-1000.com/ - Good Luck and let us know if you find anything!

You might also like to add this query to the Members Forum at http://www.online-jewelry-appraisals.net/ as other may have had a similar problem. Can’t hurt anyway and who knows what answers you may get. There is also a Great ‘Ask The Experts’ section there too.

Hope this helps…

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