The hallmarking system in the UK in earlier times was quite complicated! Pre 1973 gold rings containing precious stones did not require complulsory hallmarking. It was felt that the value of the stones was greater than the value of the metal!
It's why you regularly see rings stamped "18ct/plat" or "18ct", but not fully hallmarked. Following the Hallmarking Act of 1973 all that changed, and as the previous message correctly says all gold items over 1g had to be hallmarked, with one or two exceptions.
Dating earlier gold stone set rings came down to the wear and tear of the item, the style and method of manufacture, and the type and cut of the stones, and was therefore, even by experts, only a "best estimate" as to ages or eras.
Rating
British Hallmarks Requirements Today by: Anonymous
Hi that's a darn good question!
At current time of writing, (under the UK Hallmarking Act 1973) it' s an offence for any person to apply a description indicating that it is wholly or partly made of gold, silver or platinum to an unhallmarked article if it' not hallmarked. The Act is built around the principle of description, where There is an exemption by weight: compulsory hallmarks are not needed on gold under 1g, silver under 7.78g and platinum under 0.5g.
Also, some descriptions are permissible, such as rolled gold and gold plate.
The four assay offices at London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh operate under the Act.
However have no idea what the hallmarking requirements were for 1910. I'll be interested to find out the answer to this one too.
