Hallmarks on Period Jewelry
In the first century BC, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio described Archimedes’ discovery of hydrostatic weighing. King Hiero II of Syracuse gave Archimedes the assignment to investigate the purity of a newly commissioned golden wreath, believing silver was added to the gold content. The famous story ends with Archimedes running through the streets shouting “eureka, eureka” after he found a means to expose the deceit while he sat in a bathtub. Although the technicalities in this legendary story are most likely based on myth, it does give an early account of fraud with precious metals.
The German Crown in a Sun Hallmark.
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute.
From medieval times to the mid-19th century, hallmarks were used only as a means of consumer protection. This changed around 1840 when falsified hallmarks, named “pseudo marks” appeared on the market to dodge taxes. In those days the English government raised taxes on imported gold and silver work, with the exemption of antique items. Paying taxes has never been on the priority list of entrepreneurs and some gold and silversmiths in Germany and the Netherlands started stamping marks on their jewelry and silver work that mimicked antique hallmarks. A second factor was the renewed interest in antique artifacts of the applied arts that was kindled by the first World Exhibition in London (1851). The smiths of the day, mostly trained in the old tradition, were more than happy to provide the market with freshly crafted “antiques” and the mimicked hallmarks added to the authenticity of those desired objects.
As there had never been a real prior interest in hallmarks, other than identifying the people responsible for the quality of the precious metal, these marks were interpreted as genuine foreign antique marks by the customs officers and collectors. This deceit lasted to around the turn of the 20th century.
Swedish Hallmarks. Malmö, 1908.
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute.
While in the United Kingdom smiths incorporated the hallmarks in the design, sentiment amongst most precious metalsmiths is that they do not want someone to punch stamps on objects they created with great care and hard labour. When it could be avoided, for instance when it was not mandatory, the smiths would choose not to have their items marked. Other reasons hallmarks are not found on jewelry include repairs done in the course of the life of the item or that the article was exempt from hallmarking. This exemption was for items that were under a certain weight or were too delicate to be marked without damage.
For the neophyte many marks may seem contradictory as they do not fulfill the ideal image as seen in reference books. It is, for instance, entirely possible for 18th century jewelry to carry both 18th century French as well as 19th century English marks. To the initiated this only adds to the allure of the precious objects.
The tradition of jewelry manufacturing in the USA started only around 1840 and one can find many pre 20th century pieces in the USA stamped with European marks. This for the sole reason that many settlers had strong ties to – and traded with – the “old countries”. It was not until 1906 that regulations concerning the “hallmarking” were issued in the USA. As there is no supervised system of hallmarking in the USA (nor in many other countries), one cannot technically refer to it as “hallmarking” in the strict sense, rather they should be referred to as “manufacturers’ marks”.
On, relatively, large objects as silverware (like candlesticks and flatware) full sets of hallmarks were stamped. On smaller items such as jewelry this was often not possible without damaging the item. Therefore smaller copies of the stamps were used on those items and usually fewer of them (not a full set). A full set is, in general, made up of a purity mark, a maker’s mark, a dateletter and a town mark. Some of these marks are combined in certain countries.
While searching for hallmarks on jewelry, one needs a good jeweler’s loupe that magnifies at least ten times and of course one needs to exert a lot of patience. When a legible mark is found and the mark is not recognized, one needs to look at it from different directions as chances are that one looks at it upside-down. Usually when jewelry is marked in a country with a mandatory hallmarking system, it contains a purity mark, as well as a maker’s mark.
Those that enjoy the study of hallmarking can get very excited when a rare or important stamp is encountered.
Overview of Different Stamps
There are four main types of hallmarks that can give vital information on the origins of jewelry items.
- Purity marks
- Maker’s Marks
- Date Letters
- Town Marks
Some of these marks can be bundled in one mark depending on origin, or they can be absent due to various reasons. When a mark is found that carries a crown, it usually indicates that it was marked in a country which has or had a monarch as the head of state.
Purity Marks
Typical 19th Century Russian Hallmarks. St. Petersburg, 1838.
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute
Gold in its purest form is very soft and is not very suitable to create jewelry from. In days gone by the people who could afford golden body ornaments were not concerned with household chores, that privilege was given to domestic servants. Consequently, their jewelry was not very susceptible to wear and tear. Later, there came a need to give extra strength to the precious metal and other metals were added to make the jewels more durable, these diluted metals are referred to as “alloys”. Alloys are a mixture of different metals and the amount of precious metal used to create such an alloy is named the “purity” of the alloy. Up until the mid 20th century, this purity was primarily expressed in karats (or carats in the English Commonwealth). In the USA the karat weight is abbreviated as “k”, while in Great Britain it is abbreviated as “ct”, which provides a good clue to the possible origin.
As more and more countries are transferring to the metric system, you will find the purity being expressed as parts of thousands. 1000/1000 is pure gold in the metric system and an 18 karat gold item will therefore be stamped as 750 (leaving out the trailing “/1000”).
While in the USA, and some other countries, the purity is clearly indicated by stamps such as 14k and 18k, there are many other countries that indicate precious metal purity marks with pictorial marks and one needs a good library to discriminate the many stamps that were (and are) used worldwide.
Silver and platinum purity stamps are much like those for gold but the pictorials c.q. numericals are different. The phrase “sterling” is stamped on many post-1870 USA pieces. One will not find that mark on, for instance, English pieces, unless they were fabricated for export. Prior to 1870, the silver standard in the USA was “coin silver” (900/1000) which is slightly lower than sterling (925/1000) silver.
In many countries with a long-standing tradition of mandatory hallmarking, these maker’s marks had to be unique and copies of these marks were well kept in the archives of the guilds. Usually, these stamps carried the initials of the maker accompanied by a pictorial mark in a specific contour. Sometimes regulations required the contour to be a specific shape, like the lozenge shape that is mandatory for French maker’s marks from 1797 onward. In the USA these marks were made mandatory only in 1961 and they can be in the form of a registered trademark, or the name of the maker/firm in full. On English, and later on USA, pieces one will find a lot of maker’s marks containing an ampersand as in the mark “J & S”, which could indicate the (fictional) firm “Johnson and Stewart”. The use of an ampersand is typical for British (and their former colonies) maker’s marks.
Typical French Maker’s Mark (Louis Piret).
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute.
Date Letters
While the original purpose of the letters was to indicate the responsible assay master, today it serves as a “date letter” to indicate when the item was assayed. In daily practice, jewelry historians are hardly ever interested in the name of the assay officer behind that responsibility letter. The date letter indicates the year the object was offered for hallmarking, not the time of fabrication as is popularly believed. In recent years the use of a date letter has been made voluntary in the UK. One will hardly ever find a date letter on delicate jewelry pieces because there was often no room for a full set of marks on such items.
Town Marks
In some systems, such as the Dutch hallmarking system, the combination of the town mark with another mark indicated the purity of the precious metal from which a jewel or larger item was made.
In France, it was customary to have a purity mark for Paris and another one for items made in the provinces (departments), the latter were sometimes individually distinguished by a numerical.
Other Marks
Dutch Export Mark (a Key) on the 2nd Standard Lion for Silver.
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute.
Designer Marks are marks that are stamped on jewelry to indicate the designer. A lot of items made under the responsibility of the famous Russian manufacturer Fabergé carry a designer mark. In addition, some pieces that were made in the Art Nouveau period carry designer stamps.
Tally Marks are sometimes found on USA and British items to indicate the journeyman who actually created the piece.
Retailer Marks indicate that a piece was sold through a specific outlet, mostly through large firms like Tiffany & Co. and other large branded stores.
Duty Marks may be struck on items to indicate that taxes have been paid on domestic jewels.
Import and Export Marks may be struck on items to indicate that taxes have been paid or that items were exempt from taxes.
Patent and Inventory Numbers usually take the form of long numbers and in conjunction with other marks or stylistics, they can aid in the dating of jewelry. A firm that almost always stamps an inventory mark is the famous French jeweler Cartier. Boucher, a USA firm, patented many jewelry designs from the 1930s through the 1960s and their patent stamps are usually depicted as a sequence of numbers.
Overview of Hallmarking on Jewelry in the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany
USA
As the act does not mention any lower values of purity, one can find marks of any fineness on jewelry, although 10k and 14k are most common. For items made from silver, the sterling alloy is most ordinary. On 19th-century jewelry, one can occasionally find a “coin silver” mark, this indicates a purity of 900/1000.
Typical Hallmarks from the USA. Maker’s Mark of Riker Bros., Newark, N.J.
On jewelry objects made in the USA before circa 1900, it is not common to find any marks.
Great Britain
Hallmarks on a Victorian Ring by Thomas Morrall, Birmingham, UK, 1867.
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute.
Up to 1854, the legal standards for gold were 18ct and 22ct. In 1854 these standards were broadened with 15ct, 12ct, and 9ct.
In 1932 the 12ct and 15ct standards for gold were abolished in favor of the 14ct mark. For Scotland and Ireland, the marks and standards are marginally different.
Many makers in the USA use pictorial trademarks that resemble English hallmarks and care must be taken not to confuse between the two. These American marks are not considered pseudo marks.
France
Although the French law requires all gold jewelry to have a minimum purity of 18 karat, items that are intended for export may be marked with the pictorial marks for 9k and 14k.
French Export Mark from 1840 to 1879.
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute.
One can find the purity marks on any, seemingly random, place on a jewelry item but there are strict regulations on the positioning of these marks. Usually, we are not concerned with the strict order of placement as the regulations for this take up a multitude of pages. One can also find combinations of the purity marks when the jewelry is made from different precious metals
Germany
Typical German Hallmarks on Silver from 1884 Hitherto. Makers Mark of the Bremer Silberwaren Fabrik.
Image Courtesy of the Hallmark Research Institute.
From 1884 to present, golden jewelry objects can be of any alloy and usually carry only the maker’s mark and a purity mark. The purity mark can be a numerical in thousands as 585 for 14 karat gold or indicated in karats, like 18k or both combined into one mark. For silver jewelry, there are two standards, 800/1000 and 925/000. When the silver content is at least 800/1000 silver, a German mark in the form of a crown with a half moon is struck on the jewelry next to an indication of the fineness in thousands (800 or 925) and a maker’s mark. Large golden objects and watch cases need to have a purity of at least 14 karat and may be marked with the crown in a sun.
The town Hanau is of special interest as many pseudo marks are struck on objects made there in the 19th century. Contrary to most other cities the trade in Hanau was not strictly regulated and every gold or silversmith could provide a finished item with the marks he or she chose. In the era where neo-styles were the fashion, many objects were struck with fantasy marks that mimicked antique hallmarks from other countries. As this was a legal practice in Hanau, there is some uncertainty as to whether this was done to commit fraud or to give a finishing touch to the article.