c. 1905 gold cufflinks, ?Cartier?

Hello,

My grandfather passed away a few years ago and left me a pair of gold cufflinks which I wear a lot. It's only recently occurred to me that I should probably specify them on my house insurance, but I need to figure out what they are first - I think I've narrowed the marks to a 1905 Sheffield assay, but I cannot find the maker's mark anywhere. My grandfather always said they were Cartier, but while the mark is similar it isn't quite right - It's J.G in an eye shape rather than J.C in an oblong. Is anybody able to help me to figure it out?

Thanks very much.

 

It's feasible they were retailed by Cartier, but not made by them. I can't see that mark on the obvious sites - I'd suggest contacting the Sheffield assay office. Hoever, I ssuspect the main value is in the gold.

 

Welcome to the forums!

I'm not up on British gold hallmarking, but suspect it is similar to their silver hallmarks. That 1st mark/punch is a leopard/lioin head meaning the assay office was in London rather than Sheffield. The 2nd mark looks like an "H" in a square punch with clipped corners. With London being the city of assay, this "H" is probably the date letter for 1943. The 3rd punch is a crown. This crown is probably what made you think Sheffield. A crown is the **silver** assay mark for Sheffield. This crown along with the 4th punch of "18" denotes are the finesse/purity for 18 carat in England.

Scroll down to page 11 "Historic UK Hallmarks prior to 1975" to see the gold assay marks and the crown with 18 marks:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives....ingcouncil.gov.uk/publications/hallmarks2.pdf

Now as to the marker's mark of "JG" in an oval it may??? be for J. Gilmore? A mark like this with a dot after the J. was registered by him in 1938. 1938 is in the right time frame for a 1943 date of assay.
http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/London-JG-JK.html#JG

Please wait for others to chime to see if they agree with the above!!!

--- Susan

 

Susan, you're spot on. I'd missed the damn leopard head!

 

OBB, what are you doing up?? Get thee to bed so you will be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow or rather to do the USA's night shift for us Yankees!

--- Susan

 

It's my afternoon still.

 

Duh... dumb me. I guess I'm the one that needs to go [back] to bed. I don't know what I was thinking. As it was 7 something my time, I added 6 and came up with 1 something for London. The AM/PM just didn't sink in because I hadn't had my 2nd cup of tea.

--- Susan

 

try coffee.....it'll open yer eyes...

 

Interesting! The leopard's head I did striggle to see because it's so small and worn. The "h" definitely looks like a Gothic "k" under a magnifier though.

 

Hmmmm.... a gothic "k" in that shape punch would have to be 1966. To these old eyes I'm not sure if a K, k, or H; however, in that shape punch it would have to be for the 1940s through to the 1960s. Here's the best I can do in editing that mark. London date codes up and pass the 1960s can be see on p. 12 of the first link I posted in my first message, reply #3 of this thread.

--- Susan

 

Those marks are it to a tee!

 

It is 1925, lower case gothic K.

It's also a far more likely time for that type of gold cufflink.

It has nothing to do with Cartier, they would have their own makers for that sort of bijouterie, and probably in a more French style.

Gold cufflinks have enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in interest so they'd fetch more than the gold value by a reasonable margin.

 

Good to know, but I don't plan to sell them; I like to keep family things that connect to the past - I also own my great-grandfather's China War medal for the Relief of Pekin during the Boxer Rebellion, and all of his personal papers - Including personal correspondence from Beatty, who was his Commander when he won his medal, and who later became First Sealord, the First Earl Beatty (he took the surrender of the German navy at the end of WW2 and is one of the other two statues in Trafalgar Square). My great grandfather was the Admiral's Messman for most of his career (I have all of his service records). Money's nice, but it don't beat roots!

Link to pictures in case historical documents, medals and militaria are of interest to anybody: https://m.facebook.com/michael.hawkes.31/albums/402034243254970/

Me I just like to own a bit of my family history.

 

af, I agree it certainly looks like the Gothic K for 1925 and a more likely time for it, but the shape of the punch doesn't, at least not for me. The punch doesn't have that serpentine bottom edge. Were shape of punches for gold different than those for silver?

--- Susan

 

This was the source of my confusion too. The letter is absolutely right but the shape of the punch is wrong. The only thing I could think of was the town of assay mark being so worn it might not be London. Glasgow maybe?

 

It isn't unusual for the cartouche shape to be slightly wrong, but the letter correct. Go by the letter. A Glasgow mark would have a thistle too, anyhow.

 

...And having said I wouldn't sell them my car has just just sharted its clutch out all over the road so it's off to ebay I go :,(

 

Sharted.....I'm unfamiliar with this term....

 

Ah. Mayhap thee doth not consume many breakfast burritos..........................

 

Clearly you don't frequent my local restaurants.