https://hallmarksociety.com An independent reference for antique and vintage jewelry: how to date a piece, read its hallmarks, identify old cuts and understand what it is worth. en https://hallmarksociety.com/what-is-my-antique-jewelry-worth/ https://hallmarksociety.com/what-is-my-antique-jewelry-worth/ The six things that decide the value of antique jewelry, the four different prices any piece has at once, and how to get a realistic figure before you sell anything. https://hallmarksociety.com/victorian-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/victorian-jewelry/ The Victorian era lasted sixty four years and changed completely three times. How to tell Romantic from Grand from Aesthetic, and what each period used, made and left behind. https://hallmarksociety.com/step-cuts-explained/ https://hallmarksociety.com/step-cuts-explained/ How step cuts work, why they show inclusions that a brilliant would hide, and how to tell a period Art Deco emerald cut or Asscher from the modern revival. https://hallmarksociety.com/retro-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/retro-jewelry/ Why Retro jewelry is big, gold and sculptural, how platinum rationing and Hollywood shaped it, and how to tell period Retro from 1980s pieces that borrow the look. https://hallmarksociety.com/old-cut-diamonds/ https://hallmarksociety.com/old-cut-diamonds/ How to tell an old mine cut from an old European cut, a transitional and a modern brilliant, why the culet is open, and what each cut is worth against the others. https://hallmarksociety.com/inherited-jewelry-what-to-do/ https://hallmarksociety.com/inherited-jewelry-what-to-do/ A practical order of operations for inherited jewelry: what to do first, what never to do, how to sort it, what to keep and how to decide what to sell. https://hallmarksociety.com/how-to-tell-if-gold-is-real/ https://hallmarksociety.com/how-to-tell-if-gold-is-real/ Seven ways to check whether jewelry is solid gold, from the ones you can do at home in a minute to the ones that require a laboratory, with what each one actually proves. https://hallmarksociety.com/how-to-read-hallmarks/ https://hallmarksociety.com/how-to-read-hallmarks/ What each punch in a hallmark means, where to find the marks on a piece, how to read British, French, German, Scandinavian and Russian systems, and when a stamp guarantees nothing. https://hallmarksociety.com/how-to-date-antique-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/how-to-date-antique-jewelry/ A step by step method for dating antique jewelry from its construction, findings, metal, stone cutting and motifs, with the date each piece of evidence actually proves. https://hallmarksociety.com/gold-fineness-numbers-explained/ https://hallmarksociety.com/gold-fineness-numbers-explained/ Every fineness figure you will meet on gold, silver and platinum, what each one converts to in carats, which countries use it and what it tells you about age and origin. https://hallmarksociety.com/georgian-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/georgian-jewelry/ Closed backs, foiled stones, silver-topped gold and rose cuts. How to recognise genuine Georgian jewelry, why so little survives, and the one thing that will destroy it. https://hallmarksociety.com/fancy-shape-diamonds/ https://hallmarksociety.com/fancy-shape-diamonds/ Where the marquise, pear, oval and briolette come from, what a bow tie is and why every elongated stone has one, and why cabochons date nothing at all. https://hallmarksociety.com/edwardian-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/edwardian-jewelry/ What makes Edwardian jewelry recognisable, why platinum changed everything after 1900, how to read millegrain and pierced galleries, and how to tell period work from later copies. https://hallmarksociety.com/diamond-cuts-guide/ https://hallmarksociety.com/diamond-cuts-guide/ Sixteen cuts from the medieval table cut to the modern brilliant, each drawn face up and in profile from real proportions, with the date it appears and the fastest way to recognise it. https://hallmarksociety.com/art-nouveau-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/art-nouveau-jewelry/ Plique-a-jour enamel, whiplash lines, insects and women. What Art Nouveau jewelry is, why so little survives, and how to separate period pieces from the endless reproductions. https://hallmarksociety.com/art-deco-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/art-deco-jewelry/ What genuine Art Deco jewelry is made of, how calibre cutting and millegrain give it away, and the five checks that separate a 1925 piece from a 1975 or 2015 copy. https://hallmarksociety.com/antique-vs-vintage-jewelry/ https://hallmarksociety.com/antique-vs-vintage-jewelry/ Antique means one hundred years old or more. Vintage means old but not that old. Here is where the line falls this year, why retro and estate mean something different again, and where the definitions are simply marketing.