The problem
Jewellers buying second-hand and antique pieces need to read the marks: which assay office, what year, which maker. If a jeweller buys 20 pieces a month and looking up the marks on 10 of them takes 20 minutes each across reference books and websites, that's 200 minutes a month, and a misread date letter can mean a piece priced or described wrongly.
What the AI does
Perplexity answers with inline citations on every plan, the free one included. The jeweller describes the marks in order (for example a leopard's head, a lion passant, a lower-case letter in a shield and the maker's initials in an oval) and asks which assay office and date the marks point to and which makers used those initials, with sources such as the assay offices' own pages and established hallmark references. The jeweller opens the sources, compares their illustrations with the piece under a loupe and only then prices it. Anything valuable or doubtful goes to an assay office or a specialist.
A worked example
An independent jeweller in Bath buys about 20 second-hand pieces a month over the counter and at auction, and about 10 need their marks looked up. The owner uses Perplexity's free plan for the look-ups.
Before
20 minutes to look up the marks on each of 10 pieces: 200 minutes a month
After
About 8 minutes each, including checking the sources: 80 minutes a month
What it's worth
About $80£60€71A$115C$113 a month in owner time saved, on Perplexity's free plan. 12 minutes saved on each of 10 pieces is 2 hours, at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour.
How to set it up
- Create a free Perplexity account; cited answers are on every plan.
- Photograph the marks under magnification and describe each one in order, including the shape of the shield around the date letter.
- Ask for the assay office, the date and possible makers, with sources, and open each source to compare its illustration with the piece.
- Record the result and the sources on the stock record before pricing.
- Send doubtful or valuable pieces to an assay office or a specialist before describing them to a customer.
What goes wrong
- Date letter cycles repeat and shields differ in small ways, so an answer can be out by decades. Check the illustration in the source, not the summary.
- Perplexity works from your description, so a misread mark gives a confident wrong answer.
- Some reference sites are hobby pages. Prefer the assay offices' own pages and established references.
- Describing a piece with the wrong date or maker can mislead a customer. Describe only what you've confirmed.