A signature, a hallmark and a setting geometry that a copy almost never gets right.
Founded 1837New York6 weighted checks
Tiffany & Co. is the most counterfeited fine jewellery house in the world, largely because its silver pieces sit at a price point where fakes are economic and its engagement rings carry a premium that a copy tries to capture. The reads are the signature, the hallmarks, and the geometry of the setting itself.
The Tiffany Setting — six prongs lifting the stone above the band — is a specific design with specific proportions. Counterfeits reproduce six prongs and get the height, the taper and the way the prongs meet the stone wrong, and side by side the difference is unmistakable.
For diamonds, Tiffany grades its own stones in its own laboratory rather than sending them to GIA, and supplies its own certificate. That certificate is not verifiable through a third-party lookup, so a Tiffany diamond's documentation works differently from a GIA-graded stone's.
Genuine Tiffany carries a signature — T & CO. or TIFFANY & CO. — struck into the metal, together with a metal hallmark stating the content: 925 for sterling silver, PT950 for platinum, 750 or 18K for gold. The strikes are crisp, level and even in depth.
Modern engagement rings also carry a serial engraved inside the band. Tiffany will confirm a serial through a store, which is unusual and useful — most houses will not. That confirmation is the strongest documentary check available on a Tiffany piece.
Tiffany grades its diamonds in its own gemological laboratory and issues its own certificate. It is a genuine grading document but it cannot be checked against GIA's public service, because GIA did not grade the stone. This surprises buyers and is not a problem with the ring.
A great many counterfeits carry a correct-looking signature. The signature's presence proves nothing; its execution — depth, spacing, letterform — proves a great deal.
Ordered by how much each one settles. The decisive checks are the ones worth your first five minutes; the supporting ones only matter once those are clean.
The Tiffany Setting lifts the stone on six prongs of a specific height and taper, meeting the girdle at a defined point so light enters from below. Counterfeits build six prongs that are too thick, too short, or that grip the stone too low, which kills the effect the setting exists to produce. Compare against a genuine reference if at all possible.
T & CO. or TIFFANY & CO. struck crisply and level into the metal at an even depth, with correct letter spacing. Counterfeit signatures are shallow, uneven, laser-etched, or slightly wrong in letterform. Look under a loupe: the difference between a struck mark and an etched one is obvious.
925, PT950, 750 or 18K, struck alongside the signature and agreeing with what the metal actually is. A piece marked 925 that is not sterling silver will fail an acid or XRF test at any jeweller, and the test costs almost nothing.
Tiffany polishes to a standard: surfaces are even, edges are defined, and there are no casting pits, tool marks or rough spots anywhere including inside the band. Roughness on an interior surface is where a counterfeit economises because it expects nobody to look.
Precious metals have known densities. A platinum ring is noticeably heavy for its size and a silver one has a specific heft. A piece that feels light for what it claims to be is plated base metal, and this is confirmed by hallmark testing.
The blue box and pouch are widely counterfeited and are traded separately from jewellery, so packaging is worth almost nothing as evidence. It is listed here only to say so — a great many buyers are reassured by a box that cost the seller a few dollars.
Counterfeit Tiffany is produced in enormous volume, particularly in silver, and the packaging is faked alongside it. The signature is always present and rarely correct, which makes strike quality under a loupe the fastest reliable read.
For engagement rings, the practical advantage is that Tiffany will confirm a serial number through a store. That is a real check available to the public and it should be used before any significant purchase.
Each of these is checked differently. The ones with their own page have enough that is specific to them to be worth reading separately.
A geometric line where the T's proportions and the finishing carry the read.
Read within the checks aboveGraduated link chains, where link casting and articulation are the read.
Read within the checks aboveAuthenticity and value are separate questions, and answering the first is usually a step towards the second. These are broad ranges for honest, unrestored condition — an orientation, never an appraisal.
| Line | Resale as share of retail | What moves it most |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement rings | 25 – 45% | The stone's own grades, independently verified |
| Gold and platinum jewellery | 30 – 50% | Metal content sets a floor |
| Sterling silver | 10 – 25% | Condition; supply is very high |
| Archive and designer pieces (Schlumberger, Picasso) | 40 – 90% | Designer, era, documentation |
Broad US secondary-market ranges. Branded jewellery loses its brand premium on resale; the metal and the stones set the floor.
Lovenhall DiamondThe checks tell you how it was made. The instrument tells you what it appears to be, and roughly what its kind fetches.