Mystery Marks? Researching Costume Jewelry — Home Due to the large volume of requests received, we are unable to answer individual questions about jewelry marks and signatures. MYLU — est. However, errors can occur.
Or you found some nice vintage jewelry at a yard or garage sale or at the thrift shop. Whether you plan to keep the jewelry as a family heirloom or would like to resell it, a knowledge of vintage jewelry marks will help you to identify and date it properly. Purity marks for older silver pieces can differ from those commonly seen today. Patent numbers are especially helpful when dating older vintage jewelry, and will be covered in a separate article in this series. It includes silver marks from many countries and you can access it here: Silver Marks. As a general rule, signatures without a copyright symbol indicate the piece was manufactured prior to
Some antique hallmarks are so popular that fakes proliferate, and how these fake hallmarks can be distinguished from the genuine is just as important. Some hallmarks have interesting stories, such as the evolution of Japanese Imari into Chinese Imari and how it impacted demand and value for Imari. Study the difference between porcelain and china. China enamelware made in China is different from English china or bone china. Cloisonne is an intricate enamel coloring technique that uses soldered metal wires to separate colors in one item.
Contemporary collectible jewelry marks are sometimes just as intriguing as the pieces themselves. Usually, the marks consist of the manufacturer or designer's name or initials, but sometimes they feature a symbol. Mode-Art competed directly with Florenza in terms of style but the founders of both companies counted one another as friends, as related to Pamela Wiggins by Larry Kassoff, the son of Florenza's founder. This House of Chanel mark is one of several that were used during the s moving into the early s. The familiar interlocking "CC" logo and "Made in France" completes the bottom of the design.