What is the most common type of antique cross?

A 9ct gold pendant, plain or engraved. "9ct" appears in 45 of 146 titles and "pendant" in 88, so that combination is what turns up most often. Many are Victorian or Edwardian and carry a British hallmark, with Birmingham the commonest office where a mark is quoted.

Why do some listings show rings instead of crosses?

Because "cross" carries a second meaning in jewellery. Roughly a fifth of titles in this category use it in the crossover sense: cross-over rings, half-eternity rings, a cross-over bangle, crossed stud earrings. A crossover ring is one whose shoulders pass one another. It shares the search term and nothing else.

Which periods do antique crosses come from?

The dated field runs from 1700 to 1960. Victorian is the biggest single bracket at 32 listings, then the 1950s at 16 and the 1960s at 14, with Edwardian at 11 and Georgian at 10. Only 71 of the 146 listings carry a clean year. Elsewhere you'll see "19th Century", "18th Century", "circa 1870" or plain undated, which means the period label is the dealer's estimate rather than a hallmark date.

Are gem-set crosses common in this category?

Yes. Diamond appears in 34 titles, pearl in 18, and amethyst and sapphire in 8 each. Turquoise, opal, topaz, garnet, emerald, ruby and tanzanite all show up in smaller numbers. Gem-set pendants make up about a quarter of the category overall. Paste stands in for gemstones in another 10 titles, mostly Georgian and Victorian silver work.

Do antique crosses carry maker's names?

Not as a rule. No maker or retailer stands out as a feature of this category, so what identifies a piece is usually its metal, its stones and its hallmark rather than a name. Where a mark is quoted it tends to be a British assay office and year: Birmingham, Chester, Glasgow and an Inverness provincial mark all appear.

How many antique crosses come up for sale?

Thirty-seven dealers have listed in this category on Sellingantiques, and around twenty-one pieces reach the market a year. Steady flow, never a flood. The unusual entries appear once and not again: a Byzantine bronze cross ring, a late medieval bronze shield signet ring with a cross, a Roman silver ring with a cross, an 18th-century decade rosary ring, and a micro-mosaic cross showing views of St Paul's.