Tales of Woe Part 2

I sort of pride myself as being a “research girl.” One of the things I enjoy most about buying vintage is getting the chance to examine a piece up close so I can study the way it is made, when it was made and what it is made of. I’ve pretty much ruined my eyesight searching for microscopic hallmarks and other clues about the history of the jewel.

I had the witch ring pictured above for years. I had hit a wall research-wise and I never wore it so I decided to sell it. Then last week, when I was cleaning up my iPhoto folder, I found this picture of it. And I notice something I never saw before: Two tiny assay and date hallmarks hidden in the embossed border of the ring. I am so angry with myself for having missed them and I am cursing my fuzzy photography because while I can make out the London lion’s head hallmark, I can’t see what the date or carat marks are. Grrrrrr.