Authenticate Tiffany & Co. Return to Tiffany
The silver heart tag, and the most counterfeited object the house makes.
New York
The Return to Tiffany heart tag is produced and counterfeited in vast numbers, and almost every fake carries a plausible-looking engraving. The read is the engraving's execution: genuine text is struck or engraved to an even depth with sharp character edges and correct spacing, while counterfeits are laser-etched shallowly and the letters look printed under a loupe.
The metal is sterling silver marked 925, and a jeweller's acid or XRF test settles it in a minute for very little money. Plated base metal is the ordinary counterfeit material and it fails immediately.
The chain, clasp and jump rings are finished to the same standard as the tag on genuine pieces. A well-made tag on a rough chain is an assembly.
What a Return to Tiffany does on the secondary market
Modest. Silver jewellery of this kind resells at a fraction of retail, and the market is thin because supply — genuine and otherwise — is enormous.
An orientation for honest, unrestored condition — never an appraisal, and never a quotation.
Questions we are asked
- How do I check a Return to Tiffany heart tag?
- Under a loupe. Genuine text is struck or engraved to an even depth with sharp character edges; counterfeits are laser-etched shallowly and the letters look printed. Then have the metal tested against the 925 mark.
- Is a Return to Tiffany necklace worth much secondhand?
- Not much. Sterling jewellery of this kind resells at a fraction of retail, and the market is thin because supply, genuine and otherwise, is enormous.
Lovenhall DiamondRead the stone itself
The checks tell you how it was made. The instrument tells you what it appears to be, and roughly what its kind fetches.