Dating South African silver

[rat-tail]

Hi All - I found a collection of eight South African silver napkins rings of standard form and of themselves not very exciting, but these were obviously given as prizes by the NCAU (untraced) and each has a different date engraved on it and different hallmarks. Now while there is no guarantee that the rings were made in the same year as the presentation there is enough continuity (1 exception) to suggest they were. They span a ten year period and two different letter cycles.
It these were consecutive and included all letters, then this fantasy gothic lettering (as I call it) would have started in 1948

The rings - earliest top right, latest bottom left



R - 1965


S - 1966


T - 1967


W - 1970


x - 1971
Note the style of the letters change to a more roman look


v - 1972
The exception - this should be y but really look like it always was a v - maybe it's just really badly struck or could it be old stock from 1969 the NCAU used in 1971 - but then surely it should be in that fantasy gothic style


z- 1973


A - 1974
This is another Roman style


Many thanks Frank

[dognose]

Hi Frank,

This is excellent information regarding the mysteries of the South African date letter system and it goes a long way towards making some sense about it.

Thank you for sharing this with us and hopefully your post will encourage others to post examples of the marks.

Trev.

[dognose]

An example of a 1964 date letter, 'Q', noted on a 9ct gold ring manufactured by Oblo Jewellers of Cape Town:



Trev.