Hi Karen -the crown mark was struck into GOLD in Great Britain, so the hallmark on the "silvery" colored ring would indicate the metal is in fact, 18 carat white gold and NOT silver. With gold prices now reaching historic new heights, the gold content of the metal is the one thing you don't want to get wrong.
The anchor is the mark for the Birmingham assay office. Birmingham is where the metal was tested.
When you find the date the piece was assayed, you are then in a position to research the maker of the piece.
It would be an educated guess to assign a Birmingham jewelry as the sponsor who was working around the time the piece was assayed in Birmingham. You will have to take great care now with small details when examining the maker's mark. Is the maker's mark, "HS" printed, or cursive, etc ? Examining small details in jewelry hallmarks is where a jeweler's loupe is especially useful.
best regards thanks for writing to us... Yvonne Hammouda-Eyre If you would like to join the Antique Jewelry Investor community and stay up to date with all the latest Antique jewelry news, click here....
