www.925-1000.com

Today I found a rosary bead, presumably from the early 1800s, at a fleamarket in Austria.
The loops have a gold colour and are hallmarked with "A".

Is it gold?
What does the "A" stand for?

This Austrian A1-hallmark (1824-1866) looks similar. I didn't find older hallmarks online so far.
I'm quite sure its Austrian or Bavarian.

``A`` was struck on Vienna silver after 1866, either on small or detachable pieces, but sometimes even to soldered parts (e.g. tea or sugar caddy legs). The example given here is struck on a candle extinguisher.
I have never seen it on gold, though; the example of Vienna champlevé umbrella brooch is 14 K (``A`` in front of the snout for Vienna and ``4`` on the right for 14 K).
Your item can be easily tested on black testing stone — start with 14K acid because 18K or more are seldom seen on Vienna gold from that period. If you scrub enough you can use silver testing acid which will turn red. Try not to damage the piece. Btw. I think it’s gold plated silver.
Regards

Thank you for your respone! Personally I don't think it looks like the Austrian silver assay mark. But maybe that's just because I want it to be gold. Unfortunately it will take quite a while until i can handle that bead again, so for the time being I can just show a few more pics (cell phone quality).

This is well carved ivory as far as I can see. I assure you letter ``A`` in this form is seen only on Vienna silver after 1866; have seen it so many times.
Regards

Thanks for your kind reply.