How to Read the Marks on Your Gold

Gold marks, explained

Reading the Marks on Your Gold

Almost every piece of gold jewelry carries a stamp — inside the ring, on the clasp or the tag of a chain, on the back of a pendant. Those few millimetres say how much gold is in the piece, and sometimes who made it and where. Most of the marks below came across our own counter or from pieces like the ones we buy every week. Tap any photo to see the whole thing.

Marks are small and easy to miss — a millimetre tall inside a band, hidden under a clasp tongue, struck on the tiny tag beside a spring ring, or worn to a shadow after fifty years on a hand. Finding and reading them is part of what we do — bring the piece and we will find the mark with you.

K is a fraction of 24

American gold is marked in karats: pure gold is 24K, so 14K is 14 parts gold in 24 — 58.3%. 10K (41.7%) is the lowest that can legally be sold as gold in the United States; 14K is the everyday standard, 18K (75%) the fine-jewelry standard, and 24K is bullion. The stamp is usually inside a ring, on the clasp tongue of a bracelet, or on the back of a pendant beside the maker’s name.

A "P" after the karat — 14KP, 18KP — means plumb: the gold content is exactly what the stamp says, not a rounded-up minimum. It is the mark sellers misread most often. The P is not "plated".

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⤢© WALT DISNEY PRODS. 14K — karat and maker together on the back of a charm.from our shop⤢14K on the clasp tongue of a tennis bracelet — the usual place on a bracelet.from our shop⤢10K on the box clasp of a heavy Cuban link — the lowest American gold standard.from our shop⤢10K inside a plain rose-gold band.⤢TRUGLO △ 14KP — maker, trademark and a plumb karat inside a cluster ring.⤢14KP with a maker number inside a nugget ring — plumb, not plated.

Numbers: parts per thousand

Most of the world marks gold by fineness in parts per thousand. 585 is 14K, 750 is 18K, 375 is 9K, 916 is 22K and 999 or 999.9 is pure. European makers, Italian chains and nearly every designer house use the number — often with "Au", the chemical symbol for gold, in front of it.

Italian gold adds a maker’s mark in a lozenge or a star beside the 750, and chains carry the number on the small tag at the clasp. Bullion bars stamp the fineness, the weight and a serial number on the bar itself; the sealed card is the certificate, not the mark.

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⤢585 — 14K written as a fineness, on a David Yurman two-tone piece.from our shop⤢© D.Y. 750 — David Yurman 18K, stamped on the inside of a ring.⤢750 in a lozenge with an Italian maker’s mark on the back of a medal.⤢ITALY · 750 on the tag beside the clasp — where a chain’s mark almost always lives.⤢375 — 9K, with a row of British hallmarks on the link below it.⤢Au750 — the chemical symbol plus the fineness, on a chain tag.⤢999.9 Fine Gold — a 100 g Argor-Heraeus bar: weight, fineness and serial number struck into the bar.

A gold layer is not gold

The marks that cause the most disappointment are the ones with a karat on them that describe a coating. Gold-filled (GF) is a sheet of karat gold bonded over brass — legally at least 1/20th of the weight, and the fraction is usually stamped: 1/20 12K GF, 1/10 10K GF. Rolled gold plate (RGP) is the same idea, thinner. HGE is heavy gold electroplate, a few microns thick. GP, GEP and "24K gold plated" are thinner still.

Vermeil is gold over sterling silver, so it carries a 925 mark — the silver is real, the gold is a layer. Old watch cases say it their own way: "Guaranteed 20 Years" on a case back means gold-filled, the years being how long the maker expected the layer to last.

We price by gold content. A gold-filled or plated piece has a few percent gold at most, so it is bought for what it is — the pattern, the maker, the watch inside — not as gold. Where the stamp is missing or ambiguous, the test tells us in seconds.

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⤢14K GOLD FILLED on a Seiko Goldfeather case back — the karat describes the layer.⤢1/10 10K GF — one tenth of the weight is 10K gold; the rest is base metal.⤢GUARANTEED TWENTY YEARS — a Waltham gold-filled case; the warranty is the mark.⤢LINDENWOLD 14K HGE — heavy gold electroplate on a costume ring.⤢14K HGE LIND — the Lind rings that arrive at the counter most often.⤢9CT ROLLED GOLD inside a British bangle — rolled, not solid.⤢925 inside a gold-coloured ring: vermeil — sterling silver under a gold layer.⤢.925 on the tag of a gold-coloured Cuban chain — the number tells the truth.⤢24K GOLD PLATING — the highest karat on the label, and no gold value at all.

British hallmarks

British gold has been hallmarked by an assay office for centuries, so a row of small marks is normal: the fineness (375 for 9ct, 585, 750, 916), an assay office — an anchor for Birmingham, a leopard’s head for London, a rose for Sheffield, a castle for Edinburgh — a maker’s initials, and often a date letter. Until 1999 gold also carried a crown.

9ct is real gold at 37.5% — the most common British standard and everyday jewelry across the Commonwealth — but it sits below the 10K American minimum, so it is priced on its actual gold content, not the karat.

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⤢9ct with a full hallmark row struck on a chain clasp.⤢375 with maker and assay marks inside a 9ct ring.⤢Full hallmark row on a torque bangle — maker, 375, assay office and date letter.

Designer marks and platinum

The great houses sign their work, and the signature sits beside the fineness. Cartier stamps its name, the ring size, Au 750 and a serial number; Tiffany & Co. its name and 750 — sometimes with the country it was made in, or a designer’s signature like Elsa Peretti’s; two-tone pieces carry both metals, 925 and 750. A signed piece can be worth far more than its gold, which is why we check every signature against the collector market before we weigh it.

PT950, PLAT or 950 is platinum, not white gold — heavier, purer and priced on a different market. It is the mark sellers overlook most often on a white ring.

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⤢Tiffany & Co. 750 on the clasp tongue of an 18K tricolor bracelet.from our shop⤢© Cartier 65 · Au 750 — name, size, fineness and a serial number (hidden here by the seller).⤢Elsa Peretti · TIFFANY & CO. · 750 SPAIN — designer signature, house and fineness.⤢TIFFANY & CO. 750 inside a plain band.⤢© 2003 TIFFANY & CO. 925 750 — both metals marked on a two-tone piece.⤢© PERETTI PT950 — platinum, not white gold.