Comments for MY QUESTION IS THE AGE OF MY GRANDMOTHERS WEDDING RING BASED ON THE DATE LETTER

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wedding ring
by: steve

I'm confident its Chester.....the more I look at it the more it seems right.
The shield shape is right, and it looks to me definately the 3 sheaves and dagger....

The Exeter castle turrets were all joined, and there's no date letter even similar for Exeter. The only town mark vaguely similar would be Newcastle, but its not that either.

I'm happy the town mark and date letter for 1937 match up. The London 1707 mark, although similar font, is much smaller in comparison to the shield, and the letter is at an angle. I wouldn't expect to see a full hallmark for 1707 on a piece of gold jewellery...it would be extremely rare.

The story of 1920s....could be vague...I'm not sure, and I guess the definitive way to ID would be with the makers mark, which I've not been able to do yet...The picture is not very clear, and although I can see a pellet and an A, I can't see the first letter......

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Town Marks & Date Letters
by: Anonymous

Hi Steve, thanks for your valuable contribution, as always it's an honor.

Steve, there are lots of things bugging me about these marks. For instance, the assay office and the date letters don't seem to match.

Also, I believe the ring was purchased as a secondary piece in the 1920s, so I'm wondering how could it come to have a 1937 date letter?

While I do agree the town mark does seem to look the most similar to the Chester town mark, I am still not convinced because of the date letter. The Exeter town mark (closed in 1883) also looks similar.

The date letter and the shield matches perfectly with the date letter for London 1707. So close, it's annoying.

Does the absence of the duty mark nullify the earlier date? In any event must the assay office and the date letter match in every instance?

Thanks again for your participation. We'll have to write a page on duty marks next :-)

there's an interesting question on British Hallmarks from a visitor here. Looking forward to hearing your comments, if you have the time.

best regards
Yvonne

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wedding ring
by: steve

This hallmark has been bugging me so I've done some more research!!!

OK...It's definately a chester hallmark....and I can confirm the date letter as 1937.

I must admit 1875 felt a bit too old for the piece, and of course there wasn't a duty mark which i would have expected.

Glad to have got to the bottom of that one!! Still wierd though how the date letter appears to be a wee bit bigger than the rest. They must have used a slightly larger punch :)

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wedding ring
by: steve

well what an interesting hallmark!!

I think it looks to me like the item was marked in Chester. The pic is not too clear, but to me it looks like the "three sheaves of corn and a dagger" mark in a shield shape which is Chester.

To my knowledge there was never an assay office in Northampton.

Assuming it's Chester then the date letter looks to me like 1875, but here's the interesting bit. The shield size on the date letter is longer than the others, and the loop at the bottom of the letter is not consistant with the rest of the letter.

It may have been damaged, or double struck in error at the assay office or something like that....I have to say I've not seen anything quite like it before!

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22 ct gold antique wedding ring
by: Anonymous

Hi Judith thanks for writing in.

Your grandfather may not have had much cash but he certainly understood the significance of 22 carat gold wedding rings. You see, from 1576 - 1798 only the highest gold, 22 caratage was used in wedding rings. It was only afterward that 18 carat became the normal except from 1942 during world war II when in Britain 9 carat gold was the gold standard.

When you mentioned this ring was probably a "porned purchase" and because it has the UK 22 ct gold standard mark, I commenced researching from the 17th century onwards.

I have the date letter at 1707.

I would like to ask permission to reproduce a photo of this antique ring on this web site on the page -Antique Wedding Rings?

You might also find it interesting to know that it's a British royal family tradition to have wedding rings not only crafted in high carat 22 carat gold but GOLD extracted from the same gold mine, indeed from the same Gold Nugget! More Info on British Royal Finger Ring History Here.

best wishes,
Yvonne Hammouda-Eyre
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