R hallmark with two bars above and below
Summary: The discussion revolves around a bracelet with a specific hallmark that a participant, telegraph_mercantile, had appraised. It was confirmed to be 14K gold, with a replacement value of $1600 and a melt value of $533. telegraph_mercantile is considering selling it on eBay but has concerns over the authentication process. Another participant, goodcooks, shares their own experience with a similar bracelet inherited from their grandmother, highlighting the sentimental and historical value of such items.
Hello folks,
I've been unable to find info about this hallmark on my mother's charm bracelet. She started adding charms to it in 1933 when she was a teenager in the Chicago area. Any ideas on who could have made it?
Thanks in advance.
telegraph_mercantile
Posted 3 months ago · Edited 3 months ago·Last reply 3 weeks ago
9 comments
goodcooks
·1 month agoThanks for posting about this. I have my grandmother's charm bracelet with the exact same marks. The five charms vary widely in age and only two are actually charms as one thinks of what a charm is, three are memento emblems like small pendants for a chain or bracelet. Because of this I thought the bracelet could have been a later in life gift; her daughter in law worked for many years in a jewelry store. No one is still alive to ask.
telegraph_mercantile
OP3 weeks agoThank you, @goodcooks . That’s so interesting. My mom also collected charms over her lifetime and some were very individual/personal.
The first was probably in 1933, when she was 14. It was a football charm marked 1933 NWC Champions (my dad played center as a 17-year-old on that team).
Other charms were:
A Libertyville (Illinois) High School emblem
Items with unknown significance to me (a piece of scrimshaw, a harp, a crown, a covered wagon, a cactus)
From various places that I don’t think she visited until her 40s or 50s (Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Oregon, Georgia, Oregon Caves, the Seattle Space Needle)
Several different Methodist emblems, probably for acknowledgement of volunteer work in her 50s to 70s
Did your grandmother also live in the Chicago area?
idealgems1
·3 months agoI'd be surprised if this isn't 14K. That style bracelet clasp is common on 14k pieces and very uncommon on gold filled; and the bracelet looks like a classic double link 14k charm bracelet.
As you get more experienced, you will be able to also feel the heft and warmth of solid gold. But a piece like this can be tricky because sometimes the links themselves are made of hollow tubing construction. So, it is "solid gold" yet "hollow" at the same time.
And, for what it's worth, there are some pretty reliable gold testing kits out there, plus there is just straight up nitric acid (WHICH IS VERY DANGEROUS AND MUST BE USED ONLY BY TRAINED PROFESSIONALS WITH PROTECTIVE GEAR!). But with the test kit or with acid, the tester generally has to put an inconspicuous nick in the piece to get to the interior metal, so they are somewhat destructive tests.
telegraph_mercantile
OP1 month ago@idealgems1 Thanks again for your thoughts and advice. In case you’re interested, here are some developments. I took the bracelet to another jeweler I used about 15 years ago and had forgotten about. He used an XRF device in front of me on the clasp and several places on the links. It tested at 14K throughout. He appraised it (for replacement value) at $1600. (Its melt value is $533 as of today.) He charges $150 for an appraisal.
So, now I’m not sure if I’m going try to sell it on eBay or try to find a buyer locally. I read so many horror stories here about the Authentication process. But at least I’m confident in what it is.
Anyway, I see many posts from you here, and I appreciate you!
telegraph_mercantile
OP3 months agoThanks to you both, @fabrics24 and @idealgems1 . I think I need to find another jeweler to corroborate or not the findings of the first one, who only used a jeweler’s loupe and wouldn’t take a fee in payment.
In my limited amateur testing, it doesn’t attract a magnet and it doesn’t change its appearance when a drop of white vinegar is applied to it. I have read on these boards that $30 test kits are unreliable and XRF test guns are themselves way too expensive.
But spending a lot of money on an appraisal is hard to justify given the probability that the R indicates that it’s gold-filled. What is a reasonable fee that a reputable jeweler will charge for an appraisal? I had one here in San Francisco ask for $250.
idealgems1
·3 months agoAs a former long-time dealer for the W. E. Richards Co., I can say that this is not their trademark.
As an added complication, sometimes the stamp on a finding (clasp, etc.) is of the finding company that supplied the manufacturer rather than the manufacturer of the finished piece. Also, American jewelry manufacturing until about the late 1960s was somewhat of a cottage industry with many, many small independent manufacturers. This might be a very hard-to-solve mystery!
fabrics24
·3 months agoThis is a tough one!
The closest options I can think of are Rosenthal and Kaplan (established in the 1920s, which would put them at the right time period for the clasp), or Richards and Co., which was established in 1915. However, neither marks quite match the bars on your piece.
None of the other late-1920s or early 30s jewelers I can think of have a hallmark that resembles this one either. Do you know if the base of the jewelry is from Chicago, or if your mother just got her charms there? If she got the bracelet itself somewhere else, that could broaden the search.
I always think this is a good idea if you plan on selling something as fine jewelry, but I would especially recommend getting this looked at by a professional jeweler; usually R14k means that something is gold-filled (the R stands for "rolled" gold), rather than solid gold all the way through, lowering the value. I hope that I'm wrong, and that this is just a maker that hasn't been recorded.
If you choose to continue the search yourself, you'll want to look for maker's marks that have fonts without any serifs (the tails/bars on the ends of letters on some fonts), and jewelers/companies established before 1933.
Best of luck!
telegraph_mercantile
OP3 months agoThanks very much for your thoughtful and detailed reply. My mother didn’t travel from the Chicago area during her teens as far as I know.
A jeweler here in San Francisco judged it to be gold. As a backup, are there any testing kits you would recommend?
fabrics24
·3 months agoAny time! I wish I could help you out more; I'm really new to maker's marks identification.
I'm mostly versed in fashion jewelry, but for gold purity, I'm not big on home testing kits unless you really, really want to get into serious jewelry sales, because the good ones can cost as much as/more than an appraisal, and can damage the jewelry. You can get a little tester on Amazon for like $20, but if you want to sell this as fine jewelry, eBay will have to authenticate it regardless.
If you know, what kind of test did the jeweler perform to determine it was gold? Did they do a scratch or acid test, or was it XRF (X-ray-fluorescence) testing?