Reading a hallmark in thirty seconds
Three digits, a letter, sometimes an animal head. What your chain’s clasp actually tells you.
On nearly every gold piece legally sold in Canada, a hallmark is struck somewhere: on a chain’s clasp, inside a ring’s shank, on a pendant’s bail. It fits in a square millimetre and it says the essential.
The three digits
417, 585, 750. These are thousandths of pure gold: 417 is 10 karat, 585 is 14 karat, 750 is 18 karat. A “999” marks fine gold, which is not used in jewellery because it deforms under a fingernail. If you read nothing at all under a loupe, be wary: a missing title is not an oversight, it is information.
The letter and the symbol
Next to the title you often find the maker’s mark: the manufacturer’s registered signature. It is what lets you trace the workshop twenty years later, once the receipt is gone. On Italian pieces it takes the form of a lozenge containing a number and the province abbreviation — “12 AR” for Arezzo, where most of our links come from.
What the hallmark does not say
It says nothing about weight, so nothing about real value. Two chains stamped 585 can differ threefold depending on whether they are hollow or solid. Always ask for the weight in grams: it is the only figure that compares across shops.
One last habit: a crisp hallmark with sharp edges was struck before final polishing. A blurred, flattened mark added afterwards deserves a second question.
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