Did R.W. Wingate Ltd make sterling silver jewellery?

R.W. Wingate Ltd made sterling silver jewellery, and silver is the metal most often seen in the firm’s surviving online record. Pieces attributed to the Birmingham maker include ingot rings, ingot pendants, lockets, signet rings and hinged bracelets. Many carry the RWW maker marks together with the Birmingham anchor and the lion passant used as the traditional British sterling-silver standard mark.

A 1977 silver ingot ring recorded by Drake’s Auctions weighed 11.33 grams and was hallmarked for Birmingham. A separate 1977 auction lot included a Wingate silver locket measuring roughly 55 by 42 millimetres. A 1978 sterling silver ingot pendant, around 4.8 centimetres long, with RWW and Birmingham marks. A 1980 men’s signet ring is listed as 925 silver. A 1988 bracelet carries RWW, the anchor, lion passant and date letter O, with inner dimensions near 6.1 by 5.6 centimetres.

Sterling silver contains 925 parts silver per 1,000 under the modern British fineness system. Period Wingate pieces can carry a lion rather than a visible 925 numeral, so the complete hallmark group matters more than one isolated stamp.