This might not be the right place to post about this braclet, but my husband and I picked this up at a flea market for a few dollars not realizing it was actually a nice piece of jewelry until we got home and cleaned it up. It is a huge bracelet, 4" by 2" and very heavy, almost 5oz We can barely read the markings inside but what we can see says,
Spain 925
Bayanihan LTD
and signed by what appears to be Mikal Tow? Mikel Ton? Hard to read. We have treid looking online just out of curiosity, it came from an old man who was selling alot of old items in a big box.
hmmm… The bracelet looks like it was made in the sixties or seventies but could be a later reproduction.
The marks are confusing for two reasons. First, it is strange that the bracelet is marked ‘Spain’ and not the spanish ‘espana’.
Second, since 1934, the legal standard for silver in spain was .915.
The use of the English and the slightly purer standard suggest that the piece was made for export to either the US or UK where the .925 (sterling) standard is law.
That said, exported Spainish silver should have an export mark, which is a shield with the letters ‘Ag’ to the left and ‘M’ to the right.
Another problem with identification is that the marks on jewellery don’t always do what they’re supposed to!
With regards to value, you’d need to talk to a dealer of twentieth century jewellery. My guess is that its not worth much over scrap. Silver is weighed in troy ounces. 5 ounces is 4.56 troy ounces. Today, sterling silver is srcapping at about 5 british pounds per troy ounce. So, its worth a minimum of approximately $45 dollars.
