Hi Helen thank you for writing in with the following hallmark question:
"it looks like copper. It's stamped inside the band w.w. 9 sideways then 375 then a sideways lower letter f then a solid box. Do you know what these marking mean? Thank you"
Helen, the first thing to do, is to work out the metal composition. It could be antique gold, rose gold? that's become discolored over time. Or it could have been plated gold at one time and the plating has worn away and the marks are pseudo British Hallmarks. Plating has been around a long time. Do you have an acid testing kit? If no you could try the Biting Gold Test.
There's an age-old tradition of biting gold in order to test its authenticity. Although this is certainly not a professional way of examining gold, the bite test should score the gold because gold is a soft metal, as indicated by its score on the Mohs' scale of mineral hardness. The purer the gold the easier it should be to mark it.
