What Does the Stamp Inside of a Ring Mean?
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The stamp inside a ring, bracelet or other piece of jewelry is used by the manufacturer to indicate the manufacturer’s or designer’s name, the metal purity and type. Called hallmarks or assay marks, there are a very large number but in terms of valuation, the most important deal with metal type and purity.
Silver purity is given in a numerical code, which refers to its purity across a thousand parts.
- 925 is sterling silver
- May also appear as: S. Silver, sterling, SS or 925/1000
- May be gold plated
Gold may be indicated as a karat weight, or K, or also as a numerical code referring to its purity over a thousand parts, based on pure gold being 24 karats.
- 10K – 10 karats; 14K – 14 karats; 18K – 18 karats; 22K – 22 karats, or
- 417 – 10 karats; 585 – 14 karats; 750 – 18 karats; 833 – 20 karats.
- Platinum – the other precious metal – is indicated as Plat. or 950 Plat.
Other metals use varying formats to indicate type. Base metals hallmarks only indicate the type of metal and not its purity.
- S.S. – stainless steel
- G.F. – gold filled like a gold shell filled with a base metal
- G.P. – gold plating over a base metal
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