Vintage Coral and Gold English Ring. The above Coral ring is in 9ct Gold. On the inside of the band there is an array of hallmark stamps, most of them clear enough, one not. There are two “375” stamps indicating 9ct Gold (375 parts in 1000, 24ct Gold being 1000), there is the English “crown” stamp commonly used as a Gold mark, and there is a date stamp letter, a slightly fancy boxed “D”. The stamp indicating the town of assay, however, is indistinct. Checking the usual suspects of London, Birmingham and Chester in Bradbury’s Book of Hallmarks shows that both London and Birmingham used this slightly fancy boxed “D” in the year 1978.
The year 1978 fits; it has that look: the widish flat band engraved around the top, the scalloped join of the engraved section to the plain rear section. And close on half a century careful wear fits with the state of the surface polish of the lovely pink cushion-cut gemstone Coral. No scratches, no marks, a beautiful gemstone, but it simply is no longer quite the bright sheen of the brilliant shiny high polish it had out of the box fifty years ago. Fifty years on, it is still a gorgeous gemstone, natural and organic, and real.