We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
The struck marks on British precious metal, which are unusual in this catalogue for being a legal guarantee rather than a convention: a piece sold as silver must carry them. They are also unusual in that no single mark answers a reader's question. The set is read together — who submitted the piece, what the metal is, which office tested it, and in what year — and a reader who learns that structure can date a spoon to the year and place it to the town, which almost no other symbol system in the catalogue permits. The marks that are optional or obsolete are flagged as such, because their absence proves nothing and their presence brackets a date.
The row of small stamped marks on gold and silver, and what each position in the row tells you.
Initials in a shaped punch, identifying who submitted the article.
A number in a shaped surround giving the metal's purity in parts per thousand.
A small emblem identifying which office tested and marked the article.
A single letter recording the year of assay — and readable only per office.
A walking lion marking sterling silver in England.
A seated figure of Britannia marking the higher 958 silver standard.
A monarch's head marking that excise duty had been paid.
A balance-scale mark recognised across the Vienna Convention countries.
Numbers marking gold purity — 375, 585, 750, 916 — and what carats mean.
Fineness numbers for the two later-hallmarked precious metals.
A distinct assay office mark showing an article was hallmarked on import.
Optional extra marks struck to mark a national occasion.