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the whole problem with marks - rather, pseudo marks - from hanau, is that the smiths there set out deliberately to produce works that appeared to be from earlier centuries - which would be quickly unmasked if they put the moon and crown on them. but as 800 was a standard silver grade especially for ...

hello ambi - one would think that a manufacturer - whether a lone smith or someone in a large workshop - would always want everyone to know that s/he had made the piece. unfortunately there are times when they do not mark their work for one of various reasons-- they are not required to do so, their ...

welcome to the forum first things first: i cannot help you with the marks. however i can help you with other questions. first of all, the ring is very dirty. get hagerty's jewellery cleaner, dip the ring for a minute or so, then brush the backs of the stones and all nooks and crannies and then dip a...

hello again with no colour change, given the age of the ring and the high value of the gold, i would suspect the stones to be topaz. but check with your jeweller because if it is topaz then you might consider replacing the stones with a sturdier gem - topaz has perfect cleavage in one direction - th...

here a suggestion turn the stones over. if you see banded zones with abt 120 degree angles and it looks verypale it is citrine; if in has a substantial colour difference without obvious striations it is a yellow sapphire, if there is no change in colour you have topaz. (padparadscha has an almost in...

please repost the images
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Sheffield Silver Co.
Brooklyn, NY
1919-1974
Primarily a manufacturer of silverplated holloware, apparently made a small amount of sterling ware. Absorbed into Reed & Barton.

from the American marks section of this site
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this is termed an epergne - a type of centrepiece that became very popular, and very lavish, in victorian times; at the beginning of the 1960s you could go into any antiques shop and there would be a dozen or more, because nobody wanted them any longer. nowadays everything old being new again, these...

do you know whether there were or are any laws forbidding the defacing of coins? after all, they are legal tender and governments get quite proprietary about them. on the other hand, they were forever being melted down . . .
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well, I wouldn't want to meet that brooch in a dark alley! Your brooch is quite the stunner. I have seen the odd coin that was turned into jewelry but never in such a dramatic fashion. usually more like this George III crown brooch: http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc116/kerangoumar/GeoIIIa.jpg or...

Hi Trev and Patrick my daughter is going to be so pleased! she absolutely loves antiques and found this case on one of her many explorations. (took the picture on the scanner LOL. the camera has a screw loose somewhere. was surprised at the quality of the image.) thank you greatly - i think i will b...

https://www.925-1000.com/pics/Ximg.jpg This typical 1880s Victorian pocket watch belonging to my daughter has a couple of curious features: https://www.925-1000.com/pics/Ximg.jpg The holes indicate this case once housed an older watch that required a key, there are two holes in this lid which is en...

in this forum we encourage people to leave up the pictures for reference - especially useful if someone has a similar item...

your best approach would be to try a mild product on a spot that is inconspicuous. goddard's is ok but it has jeweller's rouge in it so don't rub hard, don't use a lot, and soap it off after it has dried, then use a lintless linen cloth to dry it carefully (press it onto the silver). if there is a l...

it would not be for gems, which would need at least some cushioning and partitioning to keep them separate.
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welcome

please do this:

send picture of the front of the ring and as much info as you can. it sounds as though you had posted a previous query - but only this comes up and there is no context

gabriela it's possible that the silver was gold plated - vermeil. can't tell you if the fobs and links went together. there was so much stuff with a lot of it never marked, churned out by manufacturers large and small to fill the huge demand for jewellery from a rising middle class. the clew you hav...

gabriela - this is definitely an old bracelet - the spring ring closure tells you that. a modern closure has a projection that makes it easier to slide open the ring. yours just has another wire soldered around the spring ring. (you need fingernails to open that, especially if the spring is still re...

are you working from the assumption that it is pure silver?

the use of ivory for insulators pretty much disappeared well before the ban against ivory was instituted. if you look closely at your sheffield teapot you can see the variations of density that mark genuine ivory ("french ivory" also has striations but they are straight - definite giveaway...