UnderMiner
Silver Member
- Jul 27, 2014
- 3,818
- 9,726
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- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Final Edit 1/30/2015 : The test results are in: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/general-discussion/448872-platinum-fork-test-results.html
I found this fork a few days ago along with some other less expensive treasures (mostly various grades of silver). Completed my research today and have come to the stunning conclusion that this is in fact... a 95% pure Platinum fork - solid Platinum with a gold plating - made by Cartier. This very well may be one of the most expensive pieces of cutlery in existence. Considering it weights 30.9 grams (1/5th of a gram shy of 1 Troy Ounce) I think it may very well be the single largest piece of platinum ever posted to this website. It's certainly the biggest piece of platinum I've ever found! I'm still shaking from the rush!!
Here's the story. Over the past week I've been pounding that old site by the shore again and again but this time using the new ExCal-II. It was a bit of a learning curve as I'd only used my new ExCal-II once before this. What a difference. The sandy/salty soil was no problem for the ExCal-II and the deep signals were coming in loud and clear. Ended up finding a ton more artifacts (silver, copper, iron, more globs of lead) - all much deeper finds than my other detector was able to handle. No more 18th century pepper pots unfortunately (I was hoping for a trifecta). I did however find, among other things, a sterling silver mechanical pencil (Victorian-age from the looks of it), an 80% silver olive fork, three hand-carved sterling spoons, a pewter dish, some broken pieces of porcelain, glass, and even what looks like to be a piece of an old shoe. I will post all these finds and more later in one massive post once I'm sure I've unearthed everything.
Anyway, this post is about the crowning jewel of the finds so far - the Platinum fork. I dug it up shortly after finding the sterling mechanical pencil. When I first saw the platinum fork it was all black just like all the silver in that area. I rubbed the dirt off (I know, I'm still kicking myself for doing such a stupid thing) and it revealed a golden luster - I assumed it to be a gold plated fork of either silver or some other cheaper metal. Into the bag it went and the hunt continued. At the end of each day I would clean and photograph my finds. I noticed the "950" hallmark during this time a few days ago.
The "950" is stamped in an "upside-down shield". I first saw this mark when I examined the fork the day I found it. I assumed it to be a sterling mark for 95% silver. I checked online a few times but really I had pretty much concluded it just had to be a type of silver. Today I did some in depth research and discovered that there is absolutely no sterling mark that resembles this hallmark. I did further research of other precious metal hallmarks besides silver and was stunned - the mark was listed as one of 4 types of platinum hallmarks. According to my research this platinum hallmark represents the second highest purity of platinum - 95%!! There is a crown above the "950", a little symbol that looks like an "R" directly above the "950", and a little "M" to the right of the "950". On the right side of the fork it says "Made in France" and on the left side it says "Cartier". There is also what appears to be some kind of etched serial number, possibly "1040". The piece weights 30.9 grams - almost exactly one troy ounce making it worth just about $1,200 in melt value.
The unknown: How old is this piece? I've had trouble dating this piece as hallmark charts by Cartier don't appear online in detail.
One thing is for certain Cartier is not known for cranking out platinum cutlery. I have a feeling this may have been a custom made piece. If so it may be unimaginably rare and expensive. My feeling is that it is worth way over its melt value of $1.2K - perhaps its worth $5k+ who knows? I will have to get it professionally appraised. Until then the hunt continues!!!
Arg! Now with all this new swag I feel like a true pirate! 
Edit: Okay, it's officially confirmed. What I initially thought was an "R" stamp is in fact a "PT" stamp, "PT" means Platinum! "PT 950 M" is a high-strength Platinum alloy. The M stands for the 5% other metal added with the Platinum most likely Ruthenium! I'm on cloud 9 right now!
Platinum stamp along with hallmark chart:
Cartier markings along the sides:
Fork on my scale, note 30.9 gram weight:
I found this fork a few days ago along with some other less expensive treasures (mostly various grades of silver). Completed my research today and have come to the stunning conclusion that this is in fact... a 95% pure Platinum fork - solid Platinum with a gold plating - made by Cartier. This very well may be one of the most expensive pieces of cutlery in existence. Considering it weights 30.9 grams (1/5th of a gram shy of 1 Troy Ounce) I think it may very well be the single largest piece of platinum ever posted to this website. It's certainly the biggest piece of platinum I've ever found! I'm still shaking from the rush!!
Here's the story. Over the past week I've been pounding that old site by the shore again and again but this time using the new ExCal-II. It was a bit of a learning curve as I'd only used my new ExCal-II once before this. What a difference. The sandy/salty soil was no problem for the ExCal-II and the deep signals were coming in loud and clear. Ended up finding a ton more artifacts (silver, copper, iron, more globs of lead) - all much deeper finds than my other detector was able to handle. No more 18th century pepper pots unfortunately (I was hoping for a trifecta). I did however find, among other things, a sterling silver mechanical pencil (Victorian-age from the looks of it), an 80% silver olive fork, three hand-carved sterling spoons, a pewter dish, some broken pieces of porcelain, glass, and even what looks like to be a piece of an old shoe. I will post all these finds and more later in one massive post once I'm sure I've unearthed everything.
Anyway, this post is about the crowning jewel of the finds so far - the Platinum fork. I dug it up shortly after finding the sterling mechanical pencil. When I first saw the platinum fork it was all black just like all the silver in that area. I rubbed the dirt off (I know, I'm still kicking myself for doing such a stupid thing) and it revealed a golden luster - I assumed it to be a gold plated fork of either silver or some other cheaper metal. Into the bag it went and the hunt continued. At the end of each day I would clean and photograph my finds. I noticed the "950" hallmark during this time a few days ago.
The "950" is stamped in an "upside-down shield". I first saw this mark when I examined the fork the day I found it. I assumed it to be a sterling mark for 95% silver. I checked online a few times but really I had pretty much concluded it just had to be a type of silver. Today I did some in depth research and discovered that there is absolutely no sterling mark that resembles this hallmark. I did further research of other precious metal hallmarks besides silver and was stunned - the mark was listed as one of 4 types of platinum hallmarks. According to my research this platinum hallmark represents the second highest purity of platinum - 95%!! There is a crown above the "950", a little symbol that looks like an "R" directly above the "950", and a little "M" to the right of the "950". On the right side of the fork it says "Made in France" and on the left side it says "Cartier". There is also what appears to be some kind of etched serial number, possibly "1040". The piece weights 30.9 grams - almost exactly one troy ounce making it worth just about $1,200 in melt value.
The unknown: How old is this piece? I've had trouble dating this piece as hallmark charts by Cartier don't appear online in detail.
One thing is for certain Cartier is not known for cranking out platinum cutlery. I have a feeling this may have been a custom made piece. If so it may be unimaginably rare and expensive. My feeling is that it is worth way over its melt value of $1.2K - perhaps its worth $5k+ who knows? I will have to get it professionally appraised. Until then the hunt continues!!!
Arg! Now with all this new swag I feel like a true pirate! Edit: Okay, it's officially confirmed. What I initially thought was an "R" stamp is in fact a "PT" stamp, "PT" means Platinum! "PT 950 M" is a high-strength Platinum alloy. The M stands for the 5% other metal added with the Platinum most likely Ruthenium! I'm on cloud 9 right now!
Platinum stamp along with hallmark chart:
Cartier markings along the sides:
Fork on my scale, note 30.9 gram weight:
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