Antique Symbols Stamped on Jewelry: What Each Mark Means

Antique jewelry usually carries up to three kinds of stamp, and you read them in this order:

• A purity or quality mark tells you the metal: 14K, 585, 750, 925, Plat and so on.
• A maker's mark tells you who made or sold it: initials, a name, or a small picture such as a bee, anchor, crown or star.
• An official hallmark tells you an independent assay office tested it. Britain, France, Russia, the Netherlands and many other countries used them; the United States never had an official hallmarking scheme (Wikipedia).

On rings the marks are usually inside the band; on brooches and pendants on the back; on chains on the clasp or the tag beside it.

• 10K / 417, 14K / 585, 18K / 750, 22K / 916, 24K / 999: gold of 41.7%, 58.5%, 75%, 91.6% and 99.9% (Bryn Mawr Jewelry). Under US rules the word "gold" on its own means 24 karat, and the karat must appear next to the word with equal prominence (FTC 16 CFR 23.3).
• 925, Sterling, Ster: at least 92.5% silver (FTC 16 CFR 23.5).
• 900, Coin: at least 90% silver, typical of older American silver (FTC 16 CFR 23.5).
• 800: 80% silver, common on continental European pieces; see 800 and 830 silver marks.
• Plat, Pt, 950Pt: platinum; 900Plat and 850Plat state lower platinum contents (FTC 16 CFR 23.6).
• Irid or Ir: iridium. A platinum-iridium piece may state each metal in parts per thousand, for example 600Pt.350Ir. (FTC 16 CFR 23.6).
• 84 with a woman's head in a headdress: Russian silver, the head being the kokoshnik mark (Wikipedia); see 84 silver mark.
• STG or STG SILVER: a sterling claim often seen on Australian jewelry; see STG silver mark.

These marks look like gold marks but describe a thin layer of gold over base metal. The minimums are from the FTC Jewelry Guides (16 CFR 23.3):

• GF, Gold Filled, 1/20 12K: gold alloy of at least 10 karat bonded to base metal, at least one-twentieth of the total metal weight. "1/20 12K" means one-twentieth of the weight is 12 karat gold.
• RGP, Rolled Gold Plate, Gold Plate: at least one-fortieth of the weight.
• HGE, Heavy Gold Electroplate: at least 2.5 microns of fine gold.
• GEP, Gold Electroplate: at least 0.175 microns of fine gold.

An "18K HGE" stamp therefore means 18 karat colour on a plated piece, not 18 karat gold. The value of such pieces is in the design and the maker, not the metal.

• Britain. A leopard's head was required on silver from 1300, the date-letter system began in 1478, and the lion passant was added in 1544 (Wikipedia, Hallmark). From 1 December 1784 to 1890 a duty mark showing the monarch's head was also struck (Wikipedia, Silver hallmarks). Today's compulsory marks are the sponsor's mark, the millesimal fineness number and the assay office mark; the date letter and traditional symbols such as the lion are optional (Assay Office London). See British sterling hallmarks.
• France. Hallmarking goes back to a royal decree of 1275, and since 1838 the head of Minerva has marked solid silver (Wikipedia, Silver hallmarks).
• International Convention mark. Since the Vienna Convention of November 1972, member countries can strike a Common Control Mark: a balance scale, on intersecting circles for gold (Wikipedia).

Many other countries, such as Russia and the Netherlands, have their own national hallmark symbols; check a mark-specific reference or a specialist before assuming what an unfamiliar symbol means.

American jewelry has no assay office mark, so the purity stamp is a maker's claim regulated by law:

• The National Gold and Silver Stamping Act of 13 June 1906 lets a marked gold article fall only slightly below its stated fineness: three thousandths for watchcases and flatware, seven thousandths for other articles when solder is included (15 U.S.C. 295).
• From 4 December 1961 anyone who stamps a gold or silver quality mark must also apply a registered trademark (15 U.S.C. 297).

So a US piece stamped 14K with no maker's mark may be older than 1961, may have been made abroad, or may simply not follow the rule. It is a clue, not proof.

Picture symbols such as a bee, fly, anchor, crown, star, eagle or cross are usually maker's marks, not purity marks. Lang Antiques' Antique Jewelry University lets you search its database of maker's marks by the symbol you see, the outline around it (circle, shield, cartouche), the city and the era; it runs to about 240 pages of marks, mostly American makers from about 1896 to 1950, such as A. & B. Mfg. Co. of Providence.

For costume jewelry the maker's mark is what collectors pay for. Wikipedia notes that the main collecting market is for signed pieces with the maker's mark stamped on the back, and names Miriam Haskell, Sherman, Coro, Butler and Wilson, Crown Trifari and Sphinx among the most sought after.

For more on what a maker's mark is and how to trace one, see what is a maker's mark.

• Clean the area gently with a soft cloth; do not polish away a worn mark.
• Use a jeweller's loupe or your phone camera's zoom, with light coming from the side so the stamp casts a shadow.
• Write down every character in order, including small symbols and shapes around them.
• Read the number first (the metal), then the letters or picture (the maker), then look for an assay office symbol.

AntiqLens can read marks from a close-up photo and suggest the metal, country and maker. For gold and platinum, a jeweller's test confirms what the stamp claims.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. Prices are copied from the named auction house, dealer or guide with the sale date where the source gives one and the date we checked it; asking prices and estimates are labelled as such, and where a figure could not be confirmed we say so rather than estimate. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.