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.
A three-pronged arrow marking British government property.
Also known as: Crow's foot, Government property mark, Pheon
The broad arrow is a three-pronged arrow used to mark British government and Crown property, stamped or cast onto military equipment, tools, timber, blankets and stores. It has been in use for centuries and its unauthorised application to goods has been an offence. On stonework it is regularly mistaken for an Ordnance Survey benchmark, which uses the same arrow but adds a horizontal bar above it — a bar that weathers away far faster than the arrow does.
Marks British government and Crown property, and has been stamped or cast onto military equipment, tools, timber, blankets and stores for centuries.
United Kingdom · Contexts: History
Carries a legal weight the shape does not suggest: applying it without authority to goods has been an offence, which is why it appears on so much surviving surplus material and so little imitation.
United Kingdom · Contexts: History
A three-pronged arrowhead with a central spike and two outer barbs spreading from a common point, cut or stamped into a surface.
The benchmark is the same arrow with a horizontal bar above it.