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.
Fineness numbers for the two later-hallmarked precious metals.
Also known as: Platinum mark, Palladium hallmark, 950 mark
Platinum has been hallmarked in Britain since 1975 and palladium only since 2010, which is genuinely useful for dating: a palladium hallmark cannot predate 2010, and an unmarked platinum piece may simply be older than the requirement.
Platinum is hallmarked at 850, 900, 950 and 999 parts per thousand, and palladium at 500, 950 and 999, each within an outline shape specific to the metal.
Contexts: Jewellery
Platinum became subject to compulsory UK hallmarking in 1975 and palladium in 2010, which makes both marks useful dating evidence: a palladium hallmark cannot predate 2010.
United Kingdom · Platinum from 1975, palladium from 2010
An older platinum article may carry no hallmark at all simply because none was required when it was made, so absence is not evidence that the metal is not platinum.
United Kingdom
A three-digit number struck inside an outline shaped as a pentagon for platinum or a three-lobed figure for palladium.