Gold ring with a strange hallmark

Who.... must preview!

If you don`t get muck look on this site,pop into a jewllers or an auction house.
Good luck.

As you probably know, it’s 9ct gold with a Birmingham hall mark. The makers stamp seems to be IBS. Have you tried to research them?
I think the year mark is an X which was miss stamped, rather than hieroglyphics.

LUCK for heavens sake.

Looks like a misshapen/ worn X from 1897 - 1898. Could it have been handed down to your mum?

375 is the Common Control Mark for 9 carat cold. It’s used by all member countries of the international convention on gold standards, so it may not be a British hallmark.

Thank you all so much!
J52 unfortunately my mum lost her mother to tb as a small child, her ‘stepmother’ (we don’t think her father ever married her) destroyed everything that had belonged to her mother so mum had absolutely nothing, no photos, jewellery etc.
My paternal father bought lots of stuff from auctions (frequently junk) so it might have come from one or from his parents.
Unfortunately I have no way of finding out.
It’s fascinating trying to date jewellery, isn’t it? Another ring is dated 1816, over 200 years old….

Paternal grandfather was a hoarder too!

What a dreadful woman. Your poor mum

It doesn’t have the crown mark that’s standard on all UK hallmarked gold since the 18th century.

The anchor is the Birmingham assay mark, but I haven’t come across one pointing that way.

Interesting Blossoming, any idea why that would be?

I wonder if that last symbol is the date letter, possibly a lower case a?

If it’s pre-1798 from Birmingham it wouldn’t have the crown mark.

It’s very worn on the outside, I think there was once a design but it’s virtually smooth now.

It certainly looks very old.

The Birmingham assay office has created an App so you can identify hallmarks. Hope it helps www.professionaljeweller.com/birmingham-assay-office-launches-hallmarking-app/

I think it's a lower case 'y' year mark which would be 1898. The letter would look like a backwards lower case g, because of the font used, with a tail rather than a loop. Does that make sense?

Gosh, I hadn’t thought of that flump!
It’s just so different from anything I have seen online but that definitely makes sense, thank you ?

Most of my jewellery, which is 22 carat gold, is not hall marked. In those days, in my country (leave you to guess) they never did Hallmark. They only started hallmarking in 2000. Does anyone know what the drawbacks are ?

well i guess the drawbacks are if you wanted to sell or value it, it would need to be assayed first and that would cost money.

welbeck

well i guess the drawbacks are if you wanted to sell or value it, it would need to be assayed first and that would cost money.

I won’t be selling it and I imagine that the value is low.
I was just curious after discovering that another ring was made in 1816, and the engraving is clear unlike this one where it’s almost completely worn away.

Sorry welbeck I missed reading crazyH’s post ??

You're welcome BlueBalou. Btw, the anchor is struck lying on it's side for gold and platinum.

crazyH, does your jewellery comes from India?