genuine hallmarks

[populous38]

Hi, I wonder if someone could have a look at these hallmarks on this necklace. I think they are Birmingham 1897. Maker D&F. They are small, so I have tried to take them through my glass. I've had this for a while, but I recently took it for a valuation and the auctioneer thought the hallmarks didn't look genuine. Also thought the gold looked a bit to yellow. I don't want to acid test it, so I just wondered if anyone had any thought. Cheers, Gary

[AG2012]

Hi,
One of your images was downloaded, cropped and resized, as well as contrast auto corrected, but this is the best I could do.
There IS Birmingham anchor mark (red arrow), but everything else is out of focus. What`s the year you mentioned based on?
I don`t think marks are faked. It`s rather well made (the setting of stones) but pearls are obviously glued.
In this type of pearl setting, every pearl has a hole and it`s carefully fixed to the protruding screw pin.
In cheaper settings the pearl is carefully and neatly glued. It`s possible pearls were glued later, genuine but unprofessionally repaired (glued). There is no doubt about it; pearls are not supposed to be fixed with so much excessive glue.
The color of gold does not tell much about the fineness, and besides, it can be easily tested.
In a word, better close up images of the marks are needed for any further search.
Best wishes

[populous38]

appreciated; I thought 1897 because of the shape of the X. I will try to take some better close ups. Thanks for the input, especially regarding the manufacture. again, thanks, gary

[populous38]

I have tried to take some clearer pictures of the date mark. don't know if they help. gary

[AG2012]

Hi,
This is the best I could do with your image.
The mark above appears to be ``9`` for karat fineness and ``375``.
Date letter upper case sans _serif ``X`` stands for 1947 (with a background of a square with cut corners used since 1824 for gold). There were variations of the background in late 19th century, but this the only matching ``X``.
I could not identify sponsor`s mark in the images.
Best wishes

[AG2012]

There is sponsor`s mark in one of your previous images but beyond recognition. Anyway, there is full set of marks and they look genuine to me.
Regards

[populous38]

Appreciated as always. sorry for the tiny pictures, the hallmarks were so small. thanks again. gary