Another Hallmark To Remember...

[cuniagau]

I dug this pendant yesterday May 4.  My wife said that it was 10KB and I saw 14KB when I looked at it.  I googled the KB to find out what the B stood for.  What I found was that if it didn't come from Mexico, it meant "bonded" or plated.  Well the 15 told me that it was a Quinceanera piece of jewelry, so the Mexico origin made sense.  Today I tested it and it only tested 10K.  I got out my 40x loupe and could clearly see that there was a 4 counter stamped inside the 0.  So what I am thinking is that the B stands for bonding the Tri gold together.  The main part is yellow gold, the center is Rose gold and the number is white gold.  Can anyone confirm my hypothisis?   Thanks, Joe

[CPT_GhostLight]

I've never seen that kind of marking. The only overstamped pieces I've seen were counterfeits. That pendant is gorgeous though. Did you test the stones? If they're diamonds, the gold is usually real. Great find regardless, congrats!

 

[cuniagau]

46 minutes ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I've never seen that kind of marking. The only overstamped pieces I've seen were counterfeits. That pendant is gorgeous though. Did you test the stones? If they're diamonds, the gold is usually real. Great find regardless, congrats!

 

The stones are not real.  I have only found one 14k ring with a fake stone but have several 10k rings with fake stones.  I was only able to test the main (yellow gold) part of the pendant as the oval part (rose gold) is sort of recessed and the number (white gold) is somewhat recessed because of the stones, to get sample for acid testing.  My electronic tester does show slightly different numbers for each of the three types of gold.  The number (white gold)  is slightly the highest on the electronic tester but only a click or so.  It might be the 14K part but I think I need to take it to a jewelry store and see what they say.  I think because the yellow gold is the "grounded" part, all three colors will read virtually the same Karat reading.  A normal piece of gold jewelry is no problem confirming but Tri Gold is not something I am used to.  Oh well, things like this are just icing on the cake in this hobby!!!  I love a good mystery.  LOL

[King-Of-Bling]

Decent pendant. Jeweler should buy that at 12k pricing. Kinda like black hills gold. But my big question is , Where's the damn chain ? You need me to find it ? 😅

[Valens Legacy]

Nice anniversary pendent, have seen them on the web for around $200. Those that I had seen were oval, tri-color, with small stones also.

Nice find and good luck on your next outing.

[GB_Amateur]

Here's a table showing specific gravities (S.G.) of common gold and platinum alloys.  If plated it would likely be right around the S.G. of pure copper (8.9).  It will take a careful measurement of volume displacement via the Archimedes method, best with a scale with 3(!) decimal positions on the grams setting if available.  One with only 2 might be able to distinguish S.G. ~9 vs. S.G. ~11.5 though.

Notice the * about "theoretical" values.  I found this table using Google Search and there was a link associated with it there but when I clicked on the link I got an article that didn't have this table.  There's probably better data out there based upon actual S.G. measurements of specimens.  I suspect the above are reasonably close, though.

[cuniagau]

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

Here's a table showing specific gravities (S.G.) of common gold and platinum alloys.  If plated it would likely be right around the S.G. of pure copper (8.9).  It will take a careful measurement of volume displacement via the Archimedes method, best with a scale with 3(!) decimal positions on the grams setting if available.  One with only 2 might be able to distinguish S.G. ~9 vs. S.G. ~11.5 though.

Notice the * about "theoretical" values.  I found this table using Google Search and there was a link associated with it there but when I clicked on the link I got an article that didn't have this table.  There's probably better data out there based upon actual S.G. measurements of specimens.  I suspect the above are reasonably close, though.

GB_Amateur,

Thanks for posting the tables.  I may use them in the future if I can get together the components for the measurement.  At the moment, I have a local jewelry store that has an XRF scope.  I am not sure how much they charge to scan a piece of jewelry, but it will tell me the gold and other metal percentages in just a few seconds.   I may drive by the store today and see if they are open on Saturdays.  I know during Covid they were only open by appointment, and you needed to be hazmatted up as well.  I have a few other trinkets that I would like to know the composition of also.  So, this may be a good excuse to get it done.

thanks,

Joe

PS Attached is a better picture of the 4 inside the 0 but you can't see the B in this view.

[GB_Amateur]

23 minutes ago, cuniagau said:

At the moment, I have a local jewelry store that has an XRF scope. 

XRF spectrometers only measure the surface content.  As such I don't know if they can tell plated from solid.  However, your jeweler probably does know, and further I think they sometimes have other methods including their own years of experience appraising jewelry of all kinds.  So I agree s/he is a good resource to have available.