Showing posts with label gold hallmarks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gold hallmarks. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

A Guide to buying Silver and Gold on eBay

When you are buying gold and silver on eBay, you must be careful.

Good-looking images and glowing descriptions seem to work better in these categories than any others and it is easy to get carried away.

Some sellers are just plain tricksy, others just don’t know what they are selling so make genuine mistakes in their descriptions, but in between these, you can find reputable sellers offering good deals.

You need to ensure that they are reliable before you part with cash so be sure to check their feedback and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Here are a few of the most misleading terms you can find. Quite often, these apply to new gold and silver jewellery items.

“Sterling silver plate” or “sterling silver filled”- misleading descriptions that sound so much better than “silver plate” or silver filled.”

Sterling silver has to be hallmarked and contain 92.5% (925) silver content, however sellers sometimes use the word “sterling” as a general description for silver.

Sterling silver items cost more than items described as silver-plated or silver filled so, sellers attract more customers by creating this confusion.

The proper term for these items is "silver plated" or "silver filled."

Silver filled means it is a base metal with a layer of plate silver. There should be 10% silver content of the weight but this may not be the case.

Silver Plated refers to any base metal that is plated with a layer of pure silver.

“Gold filled sterling silver” is a meaningless and misleading phrase.

Is it gold plated sterling silver? Or is it gold coloured silver plate? Or what?

Nine times out ten if you ask the seller, he or she won’t know either. So probably best to avoid anything using this description.

buy some electronic gold scales

"Gold filled" and "Rolled gold" are other nice sounding descriptions that make the object on offer seem valuable.

This is basically gold plate but technically speaking, the weight of rolled gold should make up 1/20 of the total metal weight and it may come with a hallmark.

If it does have a hallmark, you can check it out with the hallmark guide but be aware that the item is not solid gold so the gold content is not as high as it looks.



Gold plate should have a hallmark that signifies it as such.

Nickel silver is another misleading term.

Nickel silver is not really silver at all but an alloy usually made of nickel copper and zinc and sometimes containing a tiny silver content of around 2%.

This low value material is often described as Alpaca Silver and is commonly used in jewellery.

It looks good but it is not really silver at all and in addition, Alpaca silver is not hypo allergenic as is sometimes advertised.

Subscribe to this site by email

A Guide to buying Silver and Gold on eBay


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Silver Hallmarks

Many of us enjoy a good rummage round an antique fair or car boot sale at the weekend whether we are going to buy or to sell.

Collecting antiques and collectables is one of the fast growing past times around and many people have turned it into a profitable sideline or full time business.

Precious metals are real money, the same amount of silver today will exchange for the same amount of good exchanged today!

Silver on the TV and Media



You only have to flick through the TV channels to see how this is on the rise by the popularity of Bargain Hunt, Cash in the Attic, Flog it and others.

As well as TV, don’t forget the huge amount of antiques and collectables traded each day on eBay and other on line auctions.


Silver Hallmarks are the best way to value your metal


The price of gold and silver is at a very high level at the moment, so is popular with most buyers and sellers.
However many people make mistakes when dealing with precious metals and either sell too cheaply or pay too much.

Hallmarks are the key to valuing silver and gold and if you have ever struggled to identify a hallmark – and let’s face it even experts cannot remember all of them, then you need portable expert information at your fingertips.

Silver Hallmarks and how to date silver!


Understanding Gold and Silver Hallmarks is a complete guide to British hallmarks and assay marks that can be downloaded straight to your computer, i phone and mobile device for only £2.99
This e book includes all marks from 1678 right up until the present day and also contains a section on international marks.

It is available in pdf format making it suitable for both computer, i phone, i pod touch and almost any mobile device that will read these industry wide standard formats.

 No need to learn or memorise the hallmarks, just keep the guide handy and check the details before you buy or sell.

Subscribe to this site by email

Silver Hallmarks

Friday, December 14, 2012

How to be a Hedge Fund Manager

A financial journalist Alfred W. Jones first referred to "hedged funds" in 1949.

To counteract the effect of the markets rise and fall, Jones balanced his portfolio by buying assets whose price he thought would rise, and selling assets whose price he thought would decrease.

Now, a hedge fund is a sum of money that can used to buy or sell anything by investment or trading that is agreed to and funded by a wider range of investors.

Generally Hedge funds are used by institutions such as foundations, pension funds or private individuals who are used to investing large scale resources and have the financial worth to back it up.

These investments are taken care of by a Hedge Fund Manager.


The Hedge Fund Managers sole job responsibility is to make the invested money into profitable returns, through a wide range of investments and trading options for the members of the hedge fund.

So How do you become a hedge fund manager.


As an example suppose you set up an official company called  MAKin MONEY corp.

You would get an operating agreement written that states the management of the investments and your fee for doing it.

lets say you decide you want 25% of any profit made over 5% of the original investment.

Next you need investors


How to Date English Hallmarks on Silver and Gold (A wealth guide) 
 
Buy A Jewellers magnifying Loupe for £6.99

 Gold and silver hallmarks main site



  

 An investor puts 100 million into the hedge fund brokeridge account and you invest the money into anything that makes the company profit.

Risk adjustment comes into the equation but you invest the money and within a year the money doubles.

When the pay out time comes you get the first 5% of the profit removed and given to the investor.
This leaves 95 million of profit of which you are entitled to 25% or 23 million seven hundred and fifty thousand.

Not bad for a year. . . .

There is also often an agreement made in the agreement called the 2 - 20 rule.

This means that the hedge fund manager is owed 2% of assets and 20% of profits. This could mean that if the company lost money the manager is still owed 2% of assets.

Should you start your own hedge fund?


In theory anyone could become a hedge fund manager or hedge fund investor but you would have to have the capital to do it.

But hedge funds are notorious for bad publicity and hedge fund managers can often be seen in the media taking huge bonuses for investments that loose money.

buy some electronic gold scales

Hedge funds are not sold to the public or retail investors, so you would have to be registered as a company and only certain types of investors that specified by regulators are allowed to join the hedge fund.

Regulations passed in the United States and Europe after the 2008 credit crunch were intended to improve governments overview of hedge funds and to stop regulatory gaps.

Hedge funds are complicated there are so many strategies that it can be hard for investors to fully understand the agreement without sound financial knowlledge or just blind faith.

Hedge fund reporting is minimal and can be done to mislead investors or misrepresent performance entirely.

Great care and outside advice on verification needs to be taken before investing.

gold and silver hallmarks guide


Subscribe to this site by email

How to be a Hedge Fund Manager

Friday, November 30, 2012

How to find Valuable Hallmarked Silver



If you are interested in gold and silver, the hallmark can be as interesting as the object itself. 

It can tell you a lot about the history of your item and the fact that some hall marks are rare, will add value beyond the base value of the metal and the beauty of the craftsmanship.


Some collectors form whole collections around certain assay offices or hallmarks and look out for certain hall marks because of their rarity value.

There are four assay offices in Great Britain operating today. These are Birmingham - the largest assay office in the world, Edinburgh, London and Sheffield.

There is also an assay office in Dublin, which continues to hallmark in the approved British way despite Irish independence in 1923.

However, there are many other assay offices, which are no longer in operation and these hallmarks can be rare.

Assay offices no longer in operation are Chester, Exeter Newcastle, York, Glasgow and Cork in Ireland.

In addition, some hallmarks refer to special events or years and these also have a rarity value which is reflected by the price.


So which are the hall marks to look out for?

Anything bearing the city arms mark of Chester especially if it is early.

Although Chester silver had been made and marked as such for centuries, Chester was granted with its own assay office in 1700.

Silver hallmarked in Chester is rare because no silversmiths were operating in the town after 1820.

The abundance of Chester hallmarks on silverware dating from 1880 to 1930 is because silversmiths working in Manchester and Liverpool sent it to the Chester Assay Office for hallmarking

Duty marks can also be rare. In 1784, legislation was bought in to record that duty of 6d an ounce had to be paid on valuable metals.

A mark depicting the sovereign’s head was an extra mark added to the hallmarks between 1784 and 1890, an excise on gold and silver articles was collected by the Assay Offices and a mark depicting the Sovereign’s head was struck to show that it had been paid.

In 1890, the tax was removed but the sovereign’s head has continued to be added to hallmarks on a voluntary basis.

buy some electronic gold scales

The Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 was marked with a special hallmark, the Millennium followed in 2000 and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will be marked with a commemorative hallmark.

All these commemorative hall marks are collectable and seem likely to increase in value in the future.
The rarest duty mark is a figure of Britannia, which was used on export gold and silver.

This was struck for only 9 months between Dec 1st 1784 and July 1785 and because it was struck on finished wares, risked damage to the object so was soon discontinued.

This is the rarest of gold and silver hallmarks and will increase the value of the object considerably.

Subscribe to this site by email

How to find Valuable Hallmarked Silver?


Monday, July 16, 2012

Where to sell your gold?


sell your gold
Where can I sell my gold?

There are three main ways to sell your scrap gold. The first is to pop down to your high street jewellers and allow them to make you an offer. The alternative is to find a reputable postal gold website who will give you a quote and then you just send your old treasure off in a padded envelope and wait for the cheque.

A less common but increasingly popular method of selling your old gold is to attend a gold party where friends get together with a gold dealer to sell their unwanted jewellery – in the same spirit as a Tupperware, Jamie Oliver or Anne Summers party. Don’t do it. It might be a fun evening out but you will lose money!

If you are wary of finding an online gold dealer, the local jewellers may be your first port of call but whichever option you choose it is important to look like you know what you are doing.

You need to have an idea of the value of your gold before you agree to sell so do some research and prepare beforehand.

Use a hallmark guide to identify your gold, and note the carat value of each piece.
Gold bought overseas will also be valuable despite the absence of a British hallmark but you will still probably find a number relating to the gold content.

A jeweller should be able to recognise the country of origin by the marks. Keep an eye out for our next blogs which identify foreign gold hallmarks.

You also need to weigh it accurately so you know exactly what you have. Buy or borrow some accurate scales (1/100gm accurate) and weigh your gold so that there are no later “misunderstandings” about the weight.

gold weighing scales

Remember - gold weighing less than a gram will not be hallmarked but may still be gold, so don’t discount small pieces such as butterflies for earrings or odd chain links. It all adds up.

You can check online for the price of gold. It varies daily but it will give you a ballpark figure to work with. Once you know the price, don’t be afraid to haggle with the jeweller. It is a deal like anything else.

They want to pay a low price, you want a high one. You may need to get a few quotes to get the best price so don’t feel intimidated by their manner or knowledge.

If you are going to send your gold to a postal site, try to research the most reliable gold dealer. This trade is notorious for rip offs so you do need to be careful.
Always document your gold, weight it and photograph it before sending and post by recorded delivery. In the case of the parcel being lost in the post you will be able to make a claim.

The gold dealer should send you a quote beforehand based on your weight and carat value – the exact sum will vary depending on the day they receive the gold because the gold market fluctuates.

Include a copy of their email quote in with your package. They will ask you how you want to be paid so after sale is agreed and the company email you the exact price expect payment by BACs or PayPal depending on your preferences.

Some of the postal gold sites pay slightly higher prices than the high street but you need to check out the company before you go with them. Chat rooms, feedback etc are all good ways of deciding.

jewellers loupe for sale £6.99

All this only applies to selling scrap gold so if you are considering cashing in your antique gold jewellery finding a specialist jewellers or antique dealer may be a better option.

Also you might like where to sell scrap gold ?

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Why are some hallmarks more valuable than others?



If you are interested in gold and silver, the hallmark can be as interesting as the object itself. 

It can tell you a lot about the history of your item and the fact that some hall marks are rare, will add value beyond the base value of the metal and the beauty of the craftsmanship.


Some collectors form whole collections around certain assay offices or hallmarks and look out for certain hall marks because of their rarity value.

There are four assay offices in Great Britain operating today. These are Birmingham - the largest assay office in the world, Edinburgh, London and Sheffield.

There is also an assay office in Dublin, which continues to hallmark in the approved British way despite Irish independence in 1923.

However, there are many other assay offices, which are no longer in operation and these hallmarks can be rare.

Assay offices no longer in operation are Chester, Exeter Newcastle, York, Glasgow and Cork in Ireland.

In addition, some hallmarks refer to special events or years and these also have a rarity value which is reflected by the price.


So which are the hall marks to look out for?

Anything bearing the city arms mark of Chester especially if it is early.

Although Chester silver had been made and marked as such for centuries, Chester was granted with its own assay office in 1700.

Silver hallmarked in Chester is rare because no silversmiths were operating in the town after 1820.

The abundance of Chester hallmarks on silverware dating from 1880 to 1930 is because silversmiths working in Manchester and Liverpool sent it to the Chester Assay Office for hallmarking

Duty marks can also be rare. In 1784, legislation was bought in to record that duty of 6d an ounce had to be paid on valuable metals.

A mark depicting the sovereign’s head was an extra mark added to the hallmarks between 1784 and 1890, an excise on gold and silver articles was collected by the Assay Offices and a mark depicting the Sovereign’s head was struck to show that it had been paid.

In 1890, the tax was removed but the sovereign’s head has continued to be added to hallmarks on a voluntary basis.

The Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 was marked with a special hallmark, the Millennium followed in 2000 and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will be marked with a commemorative hallmark.

All these commemorative hall marks are collectable and seem likely to increase in value in the future.
The rarest duty mark is a figure of Britannia, which was used on export gold and silver.

This was struck for only 9 months between Dec 1st 1784 and July 1785 and because it was struck on finished wares, risked damage to the object so was soon discontinued.

This is the rarest of gold and silver hallmarks and will increase the value of the object considerably.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Gold banking Hoard and the Wiemar Republic Kite

The price of gold has increased to record levels following the collapse of the banks, as investors struggle to find something that will hold its value.

As a result gold, the most popular metal commodity is at record high prices.

The history of banks and the wealth of countries have always been linked to the gold reserve and as the global economic crisis has worsened more and more money has been created to compensate.

With the worry that banknotes may turn into some sort of Weimar republic kite and the uncertainty of property prices, it is no wonder that private investors are buying up gold like there’s no tomorrow.

It seems they are not the only ones.

The banks themselves are investing and hoarding gold.
With banking de-regulation it seemed as though dodgy investments and mysterious transactions, such as hedge futures trading and high yield investment programmes, conjured money out of thin air or so it seemed.



Today things have changed.

Central banks in general have become net buyers of gold since 2009 and it is estimated that around 17% of the world’s gold supplies are held by governments and banking institutions.

Quantitative easing has caused the US money base to triple since the banking collapse.

Trillions of dollars appear to have been created literally out of absolutely nothing.

It seems likely that most of the other economies have done the same and the global economy appears to be propped up like a house of cards.

If the central banks are stashing away gold, it seems a safe bet for the private individual to do the same.

If you look at the US economy, you will see that the value of the dollar has lost over a third of its value since 2001.

By contrast, the value of gold has increased by 500%.

With figures like this, it is no wonder that central banks are favouring gold over paper money. If you are thinking of investing, perhaps looking into buying gold may be something to consider.