Gold Wedding Band Marks and Hallmarks

By very wary of the 'SH' though as it is EXACTLY the same upside down, ie: 'HS' which is a mark for H Samuel, a high street jewelry chain in the UK.

The earlier Samuel Hennell is S.H plus you would have to look at ALL the Hallmarks together and check their overall shape to get an accurate date.

There is NO 22ct gold rings which should be scrapped unless extremely thin or worn. The 'f' or foreign mark is a modern mark and shouldn't be confused with the full UK Hallmark.

You can get a complimentary eCourse on Hallmarks from the Jewelry Antiques of the 20th Century website, which will go through some of these aspects for you.

The first mark (KLd) is usually the Makers or Manufacturers mark. Sometimes it could be the Store Mark (like SH) for Samuel Hill Jewelers... This doesn't make any difference to the Hallmark so you can generally ignore it.

The next mark was an 'F' which is the Date letter (I'll get back to that one).

The next is a Crown, which is the 'Quality' Mark which was introduced for 18ct and 22ct gold in 1798 and has been used ever since. The 22 indicates the gold quality being 22 carat gold.

The last mark is a shield so I am going to assume that it was assayed in Chester UK. However each Shield is slightly different.

Now one of the MOST IMPORTANT stamps is the SHAPE of the Hallmark (which you didn't mention). Sometimes they can be oval or square. Many times with the corners cut off. These help with the Date letter 'F' above - see I said I'd get back to it ;o)

MOST date letters come in batches of 20 and they change every 20 odd years (one letter per year). In order to identify them they can sometimes be un Uppercase - othertimes in lower case. This is where the SHAPE comes in too. This is also why I needed to know how old your Aunt was when she died. Most women didn't get married until say 20. This will help you in narrowing down the date RANGE (ie: That Batch of 20 letters).

May I suggest you go to the Antique Jewelry of the 20th Century website, where you will find a complimentary Hallmarking Course. The link is near the top right. You will learn from very easy emails how to understand UK Hallmarks. This will finally narrow down your search to around the 1950's - Hint: 1956 Date letter is an 'F'.

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Victor Epand is the owner of JewerlyGift.biz, a huge jewelry and gifts superstore featuring personalizable items. Check out our Valentine's Day section for great gift ideas for him or her.

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