A tiny number inside a ring. A small engraved head near a clasp. These marks are not decorative. They tell you what metal your jewellery is made of, and who answers for it. Most guides explain the 925 silver hallmark on its own. Almost none set it side by side with the 18 carat gold hallmark and with the case that confuses everyone: vermeil, a gold coloured piece that still carries a silver hallmark.

A piece of jewellery carries two hallmarks, not one

This is the first thing to understand, and it is missing everywhere.

The maker's mark (poinçon de maître) comes from the workshop. It is also called the responsibility mark. For a French manufacturer it takes the shape of a lozenge, with initials and a symbol specific to the house. It answers one question: who made this piece and who answers for it?

The guarantee hallmark (poinçon de garantie) comes from the State. It certifies the fineness of the metal, that is its purity. This is the one that takes the shape of a Minerva head for silver, or an eagle's head for 18 carat gold. It answers a different question: what is this piece made of?

The difference between the maker's mark and the guarantee hallmark is therefore clear. One is a signature. The other is a certificate of purity.

What 925 means on jewellery: Minerva, boar, crab

The number 925 is a fineness, expressed in parts per thousand. The metal contains 925 parts of pure silver per 1,000. The remaining 75 are, most often, copper.

Why not pure silver? Because it is too soft. A fine silver ring would bend at the first pressure. Copper brings the firmness that lets you set a stone and wear the piece every day.

Watch out for a common trap. The 925 engraved on the back of a piece is not, under French law, the guarantee hallmark. It is a statement of fineness. Many imported pieces carry nothing else.

The real French guarantee hallmark for silver is a helmeted Minerva head (tête de Minerve). A number goes with it and changes everything. Minerva with the number 1 means the first fineness. Historically that first French fineness was silver at 950 parts per thousand; since European harmonisation, 925 silver has become the market standard and falls under the same hallmark. Minerva with the number 2 means the second fineness, silver at 800 parts per thousand, found above all on antique silverware.

Two other marks often puzzle people. The boar's head (tête de sanglier) and the crab (crabe). They apply to small works, meaning small pieces, so jewellery rather than serving dishes. The boar's head was struck in Paris, the crab in the provinces, before the crab took over generally in the early 1960s. Specialist directories disagree on some details of fineness. Keep the essential: boar or crab signal a small silver work, and a piece that is already a few decades old.

The eagle's head hallmark and gold at 750 parts per thousand

Same reasoning for gold, only the symbols change.

18 carat gold corresponds to a fineness of 750 parts per thousand. Out of 1,000 parts, 750 are pure gold. The remaining 250 form the alloy, and it is that alloy which gives the colour. A yellow gold and a white gold can share the same fineness without sharing the same composition.

The French guarantee hallmark for gold at 750 parts per thousand is an eagle's head (tête d'aigle) set inside a hexagon. If you were to remember only one, this is it.

Lower finenesses have their own symbols. Gold at 585 parts per thousand, that is 14 carat, carries a scallop shell. Gold at 375 parts per thousand, that is 9 carat, carries a clover. Platinum carries a dog's head.

One last hallmark keeps coming up at resellers: the owl. It does not indicate a fineness guaranteed by the State. It is struck on antique gold works put back into circulation. Seeing it is not worrying, it means the piece had a life before you. To understand what 18 carat really changes, see our gold buying guide.

Vermeil: a gold coloured piece that carries a silver hallmark

Here is the situation that confuses everyone. You receive a gold coloured piece, you look inside, you read 925. You wonder whether you have been sold silver as gold.

No. You almost certainly have vermeil, and the hallmark is perfectly logical.

Vermeil is not a metal, it is a construction. A 925 silver base covered with a layer of gold. In France the term is regulated: the layer must be high fineness gold, 750 parts per thousand, over a minimum thickness of around five microns. That is what sets it apart from plain gold plating, which is far thinner.

The hallmark follows the structural metal, not the surface. Since the structure is 925 silver, it is the silver hallmark that is struck. On pieces heavy enough, this marking can be completed by a letter V in a lozenge, which signals vermeil precisely.

In practice, three consequences. A vermeil piece has the look of gold without the price. It is not solid gold: the layer is real and thick, but it can thin out over the years, above all on a ring. And it can be repaired, which plating does not allow: the gilding is redone in the workshop, the 925 silver base is intact.

Where the hallmark sits on a silver ring

Hallmarks are tiny. You need to know where to look.

On a ring, look inside the band, often opposite the setting, sometimes next to the size mark. On a necklace or a bracelet, look at the clasp, the end ring or a small plate soldered to the chain. On earrings, look at the post or the butterfly back, the only flat surface available.

Two tips. Use a ten times loupe or your phone's macro mode, under a raking light: the shadow reveals the hollow of the hallmark. And never rub the area with an abrasive to see better, you would erase what you are looking for.

925 silver with no hallmark, is it fake

Not necessarily. And it is a source of needless worry for many buyers.

French regulation sets exemption thresholds based on weight. Below them, the State guarantee hallmark is not compulsory. The thresholds published by the customs administration: under 3 grams for gold and platinum works, under 30 grams for silver works.

Look at what that covers. A pair of studs weighs a few grams. A slim ring in recycled 18 carat gold can weigh under 3 grams. A large share of the jewellery sold in France therefore falls legitimately within the exemption.

Two clarifications. The exemption covers the guarantee hallmark, not the maker's mark, which is still expected. And it exempts nothing else: the stated fineness must be the true fineness, and the assay office can check the piece.

Finally, a piece bought abroad follows other rules. A 925 silver hallmark on foreign jewellery can take the form of a plain 925, a national sign, or the common control mark from the Vienna Convention. That is not suspicious in itself.

What the hallmark does not tell you at all

This is the part nobody writes, and it is the most useful.

A guarantee hallmark certifies one thing only: the fineness of the metal. Here is everything it does not certify.

It says nothing about the origin of the metal. An eagle's head does not tell you whether the gold comes from a mine opened last year or from a stock of melted down jewellery. Mined 18 carat gold and recycled 18 carat gold carry exactly the same hallmark. It is a structural limit: the system was designed to protect against fraud on purity, at a time when the question of origin did not arise.

It says nothing about the exact composition of the alloy. You know that 250 parts per thousand of other metals remain in 18 carat gold. You do not know which ones. That information matters for sensitive skin, and it is not readable on any hallmark.

It says nothing about the stones. No hallmark tells you anything about the nature or the quality of a diamond. That falls to the report, a separate document. Our stones come with IGI reports.

It says nothing about the quality of the work. A poor setting on gold at 750 parts per thousand will carry the same eagle's head as a flawless one.

At Lauredi, we therefore document what the hallmark leaves out. Recycled 18 carat gold, 925 silver or vermeil. Certified laboratory-grown diamonds. French manufacture. None of that is readable in a two millimetre engraving, and that is why we write it down in plain sight. We set out this approach in our article on French quality and in the one devoted to recycling old jewellery.

The magnet test on 925 silver: reliable or not

Web guides all copy the same list. Let us be honest about what it is worth.

The magnet rules out the worst candidates without validating anyone: silver is not magnetic, but neither is brass. The white cloth that turns black is a sign of oxidation, not a proof. The ice cube that melts fast proves good thermal conduction, which copper does too. As for acid, it really does discriminate, but do not do it yourself on a set piece: you risk marking the metal and attacking the mount.

To know whether your piece is real silver, the combination that works is still the hallmark, a weight that adds up and a jeweller's opinion. The same reasoning applies to stones, as we explain in our article on how to recognise a diamond.

What to remember

Three markers are enough day to day. A Minerva head, or a 925, signals 925 silver. An eagle's head signals gold at 750 parts per thousand, that is 18 carat. A gold coloured piece carrying a silver hallmark is almost always vermeil, and that is normal.

Add the lozenge of the maker's mark, which tells you who answers for the piece. You can read the essentials.

And keep the limit in mind. The hallmark guarantees a purity. It guarantees neither the origin of the metal, nor the composition of the alloy, nor the quality of the stone. That information has to be given to you by the house selling the piece. If nobody can answer, that is already an answer. For care over the years, our care guide covers the useful habits.

Going further. On gold in particular, the detail of the fineness and the eagle's head is in what 750 means on jewellery. The case of vermeil, gold coloured but hallmarked silver, is developed in vermeil or gold plated. And for what hallmarks do not say about the origin of the metal, see ethical jewellery, what the word guarantees.

FAQ

What is a hallmark on silver jewellery?

It is a mark engraved in hollow, one to three millimetres across. It attests either to the fineness of the metal or to the identity of the maker. On French silver, the State guarantee hallmark takes the shape of a Minerva head.

What is the hallmark for 925 silver these days?

The Minerva head with the number 1, which corresponds to the first fineness. Many pieces also carry, or only carry, the numeric 925 mark. That mark indicates the fineness but is not the French guarantee hallmark.

925 silver with no hallmark, is it fake?

No, not necessarily. Silver works under 30 grams are exempt from the guarantee hallmark in France. A maker's mark is still expected. If in doubt, ask the seller for the invoice and the stated fineness.

Why does a gold coloured piece carry a 925 silver hallmark?

Because it is very probably vermeil. Vermeil is 925 silver covered with a layer of high fineness gold, at least around five microns. The hallmark follows the structural metal, which is silver, not the surface layer.

What is the difference between the maker's mark and the guarantee hallmark?

The maker's mark is lozenge shaped and identifies the maker responsible for the piece. The guarantee hallmark is struck in the name of the State and certifies the fineness of the metal. One is a signature, the other a certificate of purity.

Does the hallmark prove that the gold is recycled?

No. Recycled 18 carat gold and mined 18 carat gold carry the same eagle's head hallmark. The hallmark certifies purity, never the origin of the metal. That information has to be given to you separately.

Where is the hallmark on a silver ring?

Inside the band, generally on the side opposite the stone. Look under a raking light with a ten times loupe. On very slim rings, it can sit right next to the size mark.

Fiona