How We Know What We Are Selling

Reading the Hallmark

Britain has required precious metal to be independently tested and marked since the fourteenth century, which makes a British hallmark the most reliable piece of evidence an antique dealer can work from. A full mark tells you four things:

• The sponsor's mark. The initials of the maker or the firm that submitted the piece for testing.
• The standard mark. The fineness of the metal — 9, 15, 18 or 22 carat gold, and the crown or millesimal figure that goes with it.
• The assay office mark. Where it was tested: the anchor for Birmingham, the leopard's head for London, the three wheatsheaves for Chester, the rose for Sheffield.
• The date letter. A letter in a shield, unique to the office and the year, which is what lets us say a ring was marked in Chester in 1899 rather than "Victorian, probably".

Where a piece carries a full mark, we read it, cross-check it against the assay office's published date tables, and put what we find in the listing. Where a mark is partial or worn — which is common on chains and on rings that have been worn daily for a century — we say so rather than filling the gap with a guess.

When There Is No Hallmark

Not everything is marked. Small items were exempt below certain weights, some imported pieces carry foreign marks, and marks are occasionally lost when a ring is sized or a chain repaired. In those cases the piece is acid tested or electronically tested for fineness before we buy it, and the listing describes exactly what we found and how.

We would rather describe a piece as unmarked and tested at 18ct than imply a certainty that the metal itself does not carry.

Condition and Repair

Every piece is examined under magnification before it joins the collection. We check settings and claws, look for splits, thinning shanks, old solder repairs and stress at the bail or the clasp, and we weigh each item so the listing carries its actual gram weight.

Anything that needs work is put right on the bench before it goes on sale, and any wear that remains — a soft hallmark, a replaced clasp, a chip in an old stone — is described in the listing and shown in the photographs. Age is part of what you are buying; surprises are not.

Check It Yourself

We would encourage it. Take any piece you buy from us to an independent jeweller or valuer and have them confirm what we have told you.