Can anyone date this wedding ring?

[Lindsay]

It wasn't my mum's, but it was one she had in with the rest of her jewellery.

Does the style give any clues as to its age? The hallmarks are so worn they're impossible to read.

Thanks:smilee:

[Lindsay]

Whoops, the attachment didn't attach.

Off to try again...

[Lindsay]

...and again

[Christine in Herts]

I couldn't date it, but I just had to remark that it's very beautiful: not quite plain, but elegantly, simply patterned.

Christine

[Anne in Carlisle]

Old Crone Holden knows about jewellery - she'll probably see this thread soon.

anne

[Olde Crone Holden]

Impossible to date accurately, but LOOKS old, probably foreign and Victorian. era.

Early Victorian wedding bands were generally plain and very narrow, so this COULD be older than that, maybe Georgian.

Is the colour accurate? It looks like rose gold from here, lol!

Anyone in the family travel abroad in the 19th century?

OC

[RNM]

Lindsay is the ring hallmarked ?

Roger

[Lindsay]

Thanks for your input, folks.

The hallmarks are very worn - you can just see 4 rough splodges - no detail at all.

From memory, my gran (married 1920s) had a plain band.
Her mum probably married 1880s (no marriage ever found :conf, and the family were pretty poor so unlikely it was hers.
My grandad's mum (married 1890s) came from a better-off background and I wondered if it was hers - that seems the most likely.

The colour's quite accurate and the ring's quite heavy. It's also damaged - part of the edge has snapped off.

[RNM]

Lindsay if there are 4 marks its British not European - not sure how far that gets you - and red gold was very fashionable during the mid /late Victorian period . The rope work design should tie it down further but you'd need a design handbook ........ library ?
Roger

[Lindsay]

Thanks, Roger.

Yup, looks like its time for a trip to the library.:Wink:

[Olde Crone Holden]

Roger

Sorry to disagree but British Hallmarks consist of THREE devices, not four, until very recently (1999 I think).

Since 1999(?) a fourth mark has been introduced which indicates that the hallmark was struck abroad, in lines with the EU directive.

(The British Hallmark Council doesn't think much of this idea, lol)

OC

[Lindsay]

That's interesting, OC...out of interest, what would the marks mean? Is it one for the assay office, one for the purity mark (18 carat or whatever) and one for the year?

(I don't have much hallmarked stuff lying around at home to compare it with! - only my own wedding ring which is 1980s and has four marks plus I think some sort of maker's initial)

[Olde Crone Holden]

Assay Office
Fineness mark (the carat)
Date Letter

A fourth mark, which is not strictly a HALLMARK, can be the maker's mark.

Incidentally and a bit off topic, today a lady brought some jewellery to me which she wished to sell. Frankly, it was trash, but my polite refusal is always on the grounds either that it is "too modern for me" or "I'm sorry, it isn't hallmarked".

Today I decided to say "Sorry, it isn't hallmarked" to which she indignantly replied, "Oh yes it is" and pointed out the "hallmark" to me.

It said:

M & S

LOL!

OC

[Anne in Carlisle]

LOL, OC - what a mistake to make. Did she believe you?

Anne

[brenmac]

try putting ring in water see if hall marks stand out when wet brenda xxx