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Inside inscribed "1/20TH12K G.F.H.F.B."
is it 1/20th gram or what?

12 k..gold filled ?? Don't reallt know either but someone will answer you quick here

I think it means that 1/20th of the total weight of the item is 12K

The GF does mean gold filled........not sure on the 1/20th part, but I've seen that on silver filled old military items.

Per wikipedia;

Must be tired because "GF" did not trigger "gold filled" however the wikipedia on "gold filled" is interesting


Gold-filled jewelry, also known as "rolled gold" or "rolled gold plate" is composed of a solid layer of gold bonded with heat and pressure to a base metal such as brass. Some high quality gold-filled pieces have the same appearance as 14 karat (58%) gold. In the USA the quality of gold filled is defined by the Federal Trade Commission. If the gold layer is 10 kt fineness the minimum layer of karat gold in an item stamped GF must equal at least 1/10 the weight of the total item. If the gold layer is 12 kt or higher the minimum layer of karat gold in an item stamped GF must equal at least 1/20 the weight of the total item. The most common stamps found on gold-filled jewelry are 1/20 12kt GF and 1/20 14kt GF. Also common is 1/10 10kt. Some products are made using sterling silver as the base, although this more expensive version is not common today.

total Weight 12.3g
/20=0.615 of 12K
= .3075 24K
= $16.30 ag.


Thanks for the responses

I'm pretty sure the H.F.B. is short for H.F.Barrows & Company.

Sounds cool! My wife's great uncle used own and run HF Barrows. There's a lot of history around that company.

Dano wrote:Sounds cool! My wife's great uncle used own and run HF Barrows. There's a lot of history around that company.

Dano, do you know if the company is still in business?

There is more gold on gold filled than most people think. A lot of people confuse it with gold plated (which is worth much much less). Gold filled contains at least $1 per gram worth of gold. Sometimes you can pick up some large gold filled necklaces cheap. I got a very large heavy one for $7 but it weighs over two ounces. I would highly recommend picking up gold filled when you are out hunting at tag sales or thrift shops or goodwill. Like I said, a lot of people undervalue it. There is an awful lot more intensive processing to it from what I hear, but the gold content is still there. For some gold filled, you can actually use a file to file the gold layer off. This does not work so well on intricate stuff though, as you would expect!

That is gold filled at the coin shop I deal with he will not even mess with it.

DirtyFingers wrote:

Dano wrote:Sounds cool! My wife's great uncle used own and run HF Barrows. There's a lot of history around that company.

Dano, do you know if the company is still in business?

I spoke to my mother-in-law about this. Sadly her Uncle was the last owner. The company is gone. It was in a beautiful brick building, that has been "repurposed" into a Police station.