I have a napkin ring here and it has the stamp GF on it. There are four other small stamps which I can’t really make out other than the letter D. Does anybody know what the GF stands for please? Thanks ceri
The four small stamps are probably the actual hallmark, which would identify the city in which the ring was assayed, and in what year. The “D” would be a date letter, but without knowing the city, and seeing the typographic style of the “D,” and the shape of the surround on the punch, we couldn’t even begin to guess at the date.
“GF” would then be the mark of the maker of the piece. But identifying the maker without knowing the city and date is almost impossible.
So, what we need is a clear, close-up photo of all the marks on the piece. Don’t reduce the size of the photo for posting - the more detail we can see, the better!
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https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/London-GE-GJ.html#GF
1879?
https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Dates/London/Cycle%201876-1895.html
The photos are still taken from too far away, and are too blurry to make out clearly, though I agree that London 1879 seems to be the most likely candidate.
Don’t try to hold the ring in one hand, and use the other hand to take the photo. Put the ring down on a table, then using both hands, bring the camera very, very close to the hallmark. Most newer phones will automatically shift into a macro mode, and will yield excellent closeups of the small details, like this, quickly taken with an iPhone 14:
The camera could do even better if I had taken more than a few seconds to grab a shot.
The maker’s mark is probably going to be a tough one, since it looks like it’s been polished too many times, and with too much enthusiasm, over the decades. If it really is GF, and it’s really 1879, that narrows it down to just a couple of the makers in that list, George Fox or George Fisher. My money would be on Fisher, but it’s tough to say.
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