Reading a British hallmark
Four small marks on a piece of silver will tell you what it is made of, who made it, where it was tested and the year it was made.
Trove 2 min read
British hallmarking is one of the oldest consumer protection schemes in the world, running in an unbroken line since 1300. If you know how to read the marks, a piece of silver will tell you a surprising amount about itself.
The four marks
The sponsor's mark. Usually two or more initials in a shaped shield — the maker or the firm that submitted the piece for testing.
The standard mark. What the metal is. A walking lion (the lion passant) is sterling silver, 92.5% pure. Britannia silver, 95.8%, carries a figure of Britannia instead.
The assay office mark. Where it was tested. A leopard's head is London, an anchor is Birmingham, a rose is Sheffield, a castle is Edinburgh.
The date letter. A single letter in a shaped shield, changed annually. The letter alone is not enough — the same letter recurs every twenty-odd years — so the shield shape and typeface are what pin the year down.
Why it matters when buying
A full, crisp set of marks is a good sign, and it makes a piece straightforward to date and describe. Worn marks are common on genuinely old silver that has been used and polished for a century, and are not in themselves a problem — but they do make attribution harder, and an honest listing should say so rather than guessing.
Be wary of anything described as silver with no marks at all. Silver plate, which is a thin layer of silver over a base metal, is often marked EPNS (electroplated nickel silver) or with a maker's name alone. It is not the same thing, and it is not priced the same way.
What we check
We read the marks under magnification, identify the office and year, and photograph them so you can see them yourself. Where a mark is too worn to attribute with confidence, we describe it as such — a circa date is more useful than a wrong one.