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Hallmarks include information not only about the precious metal and fineness, but the country from which the item was tested and marked. Some hallmarks can reveal even more information, e.g. the assay office, size of the object marked, year the item was hallmarked - referred to as a date mark (also known as date letter). [2]
The BIS system of hallmarking of gold jewellery began in April 2000. The standard specifications governing this system are IS 1417 (grades of gold and gold alloys, jewellery/artefacts), IS 1418 (assaying of gold in gold bullion, gold alloys and gold jewellery/artefacts), IS 2790 (guidelines for manufacture of 14, 18 and 22 carat gold alloys only ), IS 3095 (gold solders for use in manufacture ...
Later French headstamps mark the 1-digit Quarter of the year of production and 2-digit Year at the 12-o'clock position (e.g. Q-YY), the letter code for the metal supplier for the case at the 3-o'clock position, the cartridge caliber and model at the 6-o'clock position, and the manufacturer at the 9-o'clock position.
The four wardens of the Goldsmiths’ Company were tasked with visiting workshops in the City of London to assay (test) silver articles. If these articles were found to be below standard they were originally forfeit to the king, but if they passed, each article received the king's mark of authentication which was the mark of a leopard's head.
The official mark - the Head of Aphrodite until December 2001 and a ship as from January 2002 denotes that the article is made of gold, and the fish that the article is made of silver. The manufacturer's mark must be struck on the articles by the manufacturer before it is submitted to the Assay Office for hallmarking.
"The spot price of gold has risen 44% from a year ago today," explains William A. Stack, financial analyst for the United States Gold Bureau and financial advisor at Stack Financial Services LLC.
The fineness mark, the crowned harp, was applied to 22 carat gold and sterling silver, which was silver of a standard of 925 parts of fine silver in each 1,000. In 1638 a date letter system was introduced and used in conjunction with the above marks.
O for New Orleans Mint May 8, 1838; S for San Francisco Mint April 3, 1854; CC for Carson City Mint February 11, 1870; D for Denver Mint March 12, 1906 (no overlap with previous "D" mint at Dahlonega, which permanently closed in 1861); M for Manila Mint July 15, 1920 ( an official U.S. Mint overseas for the coinage of a one centavo); and