Hi Julia - it must of been a great thrill finding this hallmarked piece! Here is a bit of background info on maker's initial marks I thought might be of interest.....
In 1697, when the Britannia standard came into force, makers were required to re-register their marks in the form of the first two letters of the surname. With the re-introduction of the Sterling Standard in 1720 makers were required to mark their Sterling wares with the initials of the forename and surname but makers continuing to use the Britannia standard used the first two letters of the surname.
There is only one Birmingham date letter than I can find that looks even remotely like your date letter - it's the Birmingham date letter for 1847 and the jeweler, now being required after 1720, to mark their sterling wares with initials of the forename and surname, will be the Birmingham maker - James Allen. You can see how closely the mark matches, except of course the date letter.
Not in every case, when you see the anchor sideways means the object in question is gold.
thank you for writing in.... 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....
