Finding Jewelry Markings on Brooches, Pins, and Tie Tacks

I took a breather from what I have been working on to organize and sort through some jewelry. 

I want to sort down and weed out jewelry I don't want from my collection and clean what I had in the house out for safety reasons. I don't like keeping much in the house. 

I spent several hours going through the stuff I had and while sorting things out, I thought it may be good for me to show how different brooches and pins can be marked with different markings and where the markings would be on different pins. 


 Tie tacks can be marked on the back of the face of the pin. They can be marked on the stem of the pin or tack, they can also be marked on the back piece of the pin. 

The more expensive brooches can have very small markings on the pin part itself, and it can also be on the clasp portion of the pin on the back. 

There can also be markings on the bottom edge of the pin or on the inside of the pin clasp or even under the pin area on the back of the pin or brooch. 

Other times it is just on the back of the pin somewhere. I usually run my fingernail on the back, edges, pin and clasp as sometimes it is so small that you can't see it and wouldn't even think to look at it with a loop because it is so small. By running the fingernail over the entire surface, I can feel ridges and markings on the item. 

Always check with a magnet as a first method so that if it isn't magnetic you can look further for markings of 10 k, 14 Kt, 18 Karat Gold, sterling, 925, etc.

Check out the video where I show a little bit more about this and I will be doing a post on checking out different claps on necklaces, and bracelets another day as well.