Authenticating Tiffany platinum band - impossible?

[qwedsy]

I bought a Tiffany platinum band on Ebay (yes, I know I know ) a couple of weeks ago, but I only realized to investigate the hallmarks further after making the payment. I am still having some hope that it might as well be the real thing, but there are some alarm signs..

1. The missing copyright mark. 2. The alloy. Not ruthenium, not 950.

Are there any Tiffany experts that could help verify if there's even a possibility that the ring COULD be authentic or whether it just reeks fake..? I'd be happy for any comments.

The ring is 2mm, weighs around 3 grams and is a size 8.5. According to the seller, it is an estate piece and up to 20 years old. The seller is not the original owner.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I just don't see that particular item as being a likely fake, personally. Plenty of fine jewelry has been made with 900 platinum 100 iridium and it is certainly possible or even likely that Tiffany has used this during their history. It wouldn't really be worth it to me to spend money having a piece like this authenticated. I assume you bought it to wear, right? I'd assume it is real and enjoy wearing it! I hope you got a good deal!

You can always call Tiffany and ask what their policy is on authenticating pre-owned pieces and what the cost would be.

 

[qwedsy]

I just don't see that particular item as being a likely fake, personally. Plenty of fine jewelry has been made with 900 platinum 100 iridium and it is certainly possible or even likely that Tiffany has used this during their history. It wouldn't really be worth it to me to spend money having a piece like this authenticated. I assume you bought it to wear, right? I'd assume it is real and enjoy wearing it! I hope you got a good deal!

You can always call Tiffany and ask what their policy is on authenticating pre-owned pieces and what the cost would be.

Thank you for the input. That's what I thought initially when deciding to bid on it - that surely no one would take the time to manufacture replica bands with no stones on them. But now… I'm not sure anymore.

I bought it to wear, but never ever would I have paid so much for a piece had I not thought it to be Tiffany. It cost me 270 dollars. It is my first Tiffany (or Tiffany replica ) so the whole brand thing was a big deciding factor.

I live in Scandinavia and there are no Tiffany stores where I'm from, so sending it to be "polished" to authenticate is not an option.

For my surprise I got Tiffany's response via e-mail. I don't know what to think of them first congratulating me and then couple hours after with the exact same information (within pictures then) telling me it probably is a fake. I don't know if the local auction houses are trained enough to spot a Tiffany counterfeit.

Qwedsy: I am kindly asking if you are able to assist me in defining whether a Tiffany platinum band I recently purchased second hand has hallmarks that Tiffany&Co. has used. It is a vintage piece. The hallmark for maker and alloy are different that I have seen before with platinum Tiffany products. The band is inscribed with hallmarks "Tiffany&Co." without the Copyright-mark before that, and after maker's mark it says "100IRID-900PLAT." I have understood that Tiffany usually uses only ruthenium alloy and 950 instead of 900. I would be very thankful for any help regarding this issue.

Tiffany: Thank you for your interest in our company. It sounds like you purchased a beautiful platinum band ring. Our hallmarking can vary depending on how old the piece is and which country it was originally purchased in. For this reason we are unable to determine the authenticity of the piece. While we do not authenticate pieces we can try to determine which collection the piece is from and any information we may have if you can send a picture to this e-mail. Please send several pictures so that we can best assist you.

Qwedsy: Thank you. Here are some pictures I just took. The band is 2mm wide and has rounded edges, weighs around 3 grams. The size is 8.5 US. I understand the issues with authenticating pieces. If you have any information on the collection and/or model I would appreciate it greatly - and/or if you can verify that the alloy hallmarked has actually been/is used by Tiffany&Co.

Tiffany: We currently sell the Lucida Wedding Band Ring in platinum. It is 2 mm wide. We also offer a Tiffany Wedding Band in platinum that is 2 mm wide. These pieces usually have PT950 and our hallmark. The marking 100IRID-900PLAT would be for 900 platinum/100 iridium which makes it sound like the piece may not be genuine. To confirm you may want to bring the piece to a local auction house.

 

[arkieb1]

I second the idea if you don't have a Tiffany near you do you have any really good auction houses with jewellery sections? A good auction house with trained jewellery staff should be able to tell you quickly if it is real or not. Same at a Tiffany store.

 

[ame]

The Tiffany stamp doesn't look right to me, nor does that Tiffany pouch, so I'd return it if you can. Tiffany does not authenticate their pieces. The only thing they do that comes close is clean them. They won't clean it if they don't think it's real.

 

[ringbling17]

The ring looks authentic to me. It looks like the older stamp that they used to use. They didn't mark all their rings with the copyright mark either. I have two wedding bands from 2006-2007 that do not have the copyright mark. Also, the pouch looks real too. I have old pouches from about 15- 19 years ago that have the same look. Over the years Tiffany's has changed their stamp, pouches and boxes, added the copyright mark.

As far the alloy, I am pretty sure they made 10% iridium/90% platinum in the past.
I could almost swear (but don't quote me) that there is a vintage french cut diamond Tiffany ring on here with that alloy combo.

 

[ringbling17]

Here is the french cut tiffany band. It's marked IRID-PLAT and there is no copy mark.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/forum/preloved-ps-jewels/just-listed-my-art-deco-tiffany-co-french-cut-eternity-t208670.html']https://www.pricescope.com/forum/preloved-ps-jewels/just-listed-my-art-deco-tiffany-co-french-cut-eternity-t208670.html[/URL]

 

[qwedsy]

Thank you for all the comments so far. I guess there will not be a definite answer for this one, I just have to decide how much it's worth to me as a "maybe, maybe not" Tiffany. Somehow I wouldn't want to be wearing a counterfeit, even if I had had it for free..

arkieb1, I'll have to search some more, but as I said, at the moment I am not aware of any high end auction houses near us or any auction houses at all that I would trust in to spot fake Tiffany from real.

ame, I took some additional photos of the pouch. It is a bit dirty and rugged, but otherwise looks like it could be quality work.There are two compartments inside. I haven't seen pouches with a shiny stitching before, I also thought that looked a bit cheap. I think the current pouch at least is a bit more expensive looking.

Butterfly17, thank you for the link. It eases my mind to see that there actually have been platinum rings made with iridium, though the hallmark is still different from the alloy mark on the band.

The seller is willing to accept return and has been kind to me so far. I know this is sort of selfish and not the biggest problem in this world, but I am so torn whether to return or not, because I would love to own a Tiffany platinum band if I just could be certain enough that it is an authentic piece. It fits me and looks lovely stacked with my wedding ring.

 

[qwedsy]

Picture from the insides of the pouch and in action.

Thought about first getting it to a jeweler to have it acid tested. At least that is something possible even here in my home town and should be fairly quick. Is platinum valuable enough that no one in their right mind would counterfeit a brand ring and actually cast it in platinum..? Or would they? Is the Tiffany mark up that high that it could actually be worth it?

 

[pyramid]

I don't know about your band but I know that there is a Tiffany store in London. In the UK platinum is only recognised as platinum and hallmarked as such if the platinum content is 950, this is why I did not get a ring made with suggested other mix people here on Pricescope request when I was ordering from USA, as it would not be considered Platinum over in the UK. So unless Tiffany UK are different from other parts of the World I don't know, but Tiffany in the UK will only have pieces with 950 Platinum as otherwise it is not legal to sell it as platinum at only 900 and is not recognised as Platinum in the British Hallmark system.


Edited: to say, just noticed in your reply above from Tiffany that they say it depends on the Country, so they are not all the same.

 

[Sundial]

I'm afraid that I can't help with authenticating your band, but I just wanted to say how beautiful I think your rings are!!! And the platinum band looks perfect with them.

 

[partgypsy]

Personally a platinum band retail will cost significantly more than you paid for that band. For me the piece of jewelry is more important than the brand. Since you already said you like the piece, what I would do is confirm say via jeweler whether this is platinum or not. And if it was, keep it. If it was more important that it was a tiffany piece, maybe even just get a silver or white gold piece from the Tiffany store, for your piece of mind.

I also think the best bet is to go to an auction house dealing with estate jewelry (in particular Tiffany). Tiffany pieces have changed over the years so you would have to go through additional homework of going to someone experienced in estate pieces to be able to get an answer.

 

[VRBeauty]

It's a beautiful ring, it looks terrific with your other rings, and you got it for a very good price. Maybe someday you'll be able to determine that it's genuine Tiffany, maybe not. If it were me I'd just enjoy wearing it!

ETA the Tiffany pouch may be real, but it looks like a two-sided pouch that would be used for earrings, so I doubt that it's the pouch the ring would have come with in any event.

 

[makemepretty]

Wow, it looks so beautiful with your set! I think you got an awesome price on a platinum band. Also, if the seller has great feedback, I wouldn't worry, just enjoy your band.

 

[elle_chris]

I don't know about your band but I know that there is a Tiffany store in London. In the UK platinum is only recognised as platinum and hallmarked as such if the platinum content is 950, this is why I did not get a ring made with suggested other mix people here on Pricescope request when I was ordering from USA, as it would not be considered Platinum over in the UK. So unless Tiffany UK are different from other parts of the World I don't know, but Tiffany in the UK will only have pieces with 950 Platinum as otherwise it is not legal to sell it as platinum at only 900 and is not recognised as Platinum in the British Hallmark system.


Edited: to say, just noticed in your reply above from Tiffany that they say it depends on the Country, so they are not all the same.

That's very odd. 900/10 iridium and 950/5 ruthenium contains almost the same amount of platinum
Doesn't make sense for the UK not to allow the hallmark for 900 plat with iridium.
This link is great at describing the differences and weight vs volume : http://www.mwmjewelry.com/platinum_purity.htm

 

[Rhea]

I don't know about your band but I know that there is a Tiffany store in London. In the UK platinum is only recognised as platinum and hallmarked as such if the platinum content is 950, this is why I did not get a ring made with suggested other mix people here on Pricescope request when I was ordering from USA, as it would not be considered Platinum over in the UK. So unless Tiffany UK are different from other parts of the World I don't know, but Tiffany in the UK will only have pieces with 950 Platinum as otherwise it is not legal to sell it as platinum at only 900 and is not recognised as Platinum in the British Hallmark system.


Edited: to say, just noticed in your reply above from Tiffany that they say it depends on the Country, so they are not all the same.

That's very odd. 900/10 iridium and 950/5 ruthenium contains almost the same amount of platinum
Doesn't make sense for the UK not to allow the hallmark for 900 plat with iridium.
This link is great at describing the differences and weight vs volume : http://www.mwmjewelry.com/platinum_purity.htm

It's just like the US doesn't really recognise 9 carat gold while many other parts of the world does. The UK has strict hallmarking rules and can't hallmark everything (much stricter than US laws) so just chooses certain metals. It's pretty common in Europe and several other countries. Modern platinum at 90% simply isn't recognised in the UK. It'd be nice if many counties who regularly trade could stick to a uniform. Oh wait! They do! Except North America www.hallmarkingconvention.org Like any regulating body there are pluses (stricter laws) and cons (no 90% platinum).

 

[VRBeauty]

Different countries do indeed have different hallmarking systems and purity requirements, as I found when researching some heirloom sterling silver flatwar. The "900" probably indicates the minimum purity requirements for the country the ring was originally sold in. The Vienna convention Rhea referred to started in 1973 and currently has only 18 members/signatories, so there's also a good possibility that your ring either pre-dates the convention, or was first sold in a non-participating country. This site provides some additional information about a few countries... but it's mostly a teaser for a book that presumable provides more extensive information:

http://www.ebooksantiques.com/epage...Shops/62484473/Categories/Hallmarking_systems

 

[elle_chris]

The amount of platinum in 90/10 iridium and a 95/5 ruthenium is pretty much the same. That's why I find it odd.

 

[qwedsy]

I finally had time to take it to a pawn shop and it tested as platinum. I understood that they made the test by scraping the surface though she first suggested that she would just weigh it in a water tank(??). But at least she came back from testing it and said that se assumes it to be platinum - and offered a loan for the weight of platinum (43 dollars for 3.2 grams).
I also took it to a local jeweler before that. He didn't have the gadgets (or interest?) to test it, but said that the weight was consistent with it being platinum.

I decided to keep it and cherish it for now as a Tiffany -though definitely would be interested to take it to a Tiffany's if we ever again go on a vacation to a city that has one. For now I am going to wear it with love next to my wedding ring and assume that I'm a proud owner of a Tiffany product (since that would make me happy).
It's not like anyone else in my group of people is interested in it or that I would ever actually talk about it to anyone, mainly just a psychological thing. I think everyone else than me and hubby is just going to think it's a silver (or wg if they know something about jewelry) band.

I thank you all for the comments and discussion. It was helpful when deciding how to proceed and whether to keep it or not. I am now at ease to keep it and cherish it, even though the mystery of its origins was not fully solved at this time.

 

[VRBeauty]

she first suggested that she would just weigh it in a water tank(??).

Cool! I didn't know anyone did that anymore!

She was going to calculate the ring's specific gravity and compare that to the specific gravity of platinum, which would be different from the specific gravity of any other pure metal:


Specific gravity is a comparison of a substance's density to that of water. Water's density is 1 gram per cubic centimeter (1 g/cm[3]). The specific gravity of a substance is determined by dividing its density by that of water. Because specific gravity is determined by dividing two densities, the units cancel each other out, and the final value is given with just a number. Specific gravity can also be calculated by dividing the weight or mass of an object by the weight or apparent mass of the same object when it is submerged in water. Because each substance has a unique specific gravity, this test can determine the composition of an object.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_8161044_measure-specific-gravity-solids.html

I'm glad you've decided to keep and enjoy your ring!