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MORE on the tutorial: HOW TO READ ENGLISH/BRITISH STERLING SILVER MARKS
The hallmarking of British silver is based on a combination of marks that makes possible the
identification of the origin and the age of each silver piece manufactured or traded in the UK. The marks are:
Town mark, corresponding to the mark of the Assay Office that has verified the piece Lion passant guardant or Britannia or lion's head erased, certifiying the silver quality Maker's mark, identifying the silversmith presenting the piece to the assay office (usually the initials of Christian name and surname of the silversmith) Date letter, in cycles of twenty letters of the alphabet of different shape identifies the year in which the piece was verified by the Assay Office A further mark was used in the period 1784 - 1890: Sovereign head ('duty mark'), certifying the payment of the duty This page was useful? leave your LIKE on facebook work in progress on this page - your help, corrections and suggestions will be greatly appreciated - |