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Initials in a shaped punch, identifying who submitted the article.
Also known as: Maker's mark, Initials on silver, Letters in a box on jewellery
Two or more letters in a distinctive outline. It identifies the person or company that submitted the item for assay — which is not necessarily who made it, a distinction that matters a great deal to anyone attributing a piece.
A registered mark, normally the initials of the person or company submitting the article for hallmarking, struck within an outline shape unique to that registration.
Contexts: Jewellery
Identifies the sponsor rather than the maker. A retailer or wholesaler may submit work made by someone else under its own mark, so a sponsor's mark is evidence of who took responsibility for the article and not necessarily of whose hands made it.
Widely called a maker's mark, including by dealers. The formal term is sponsor's mark and the difference is real.
Registered with an assay office, which keeps the record, so a sponsor's mark can often be matched to a named individual or firm and a date range through the office's registers.
The outline shape is part of the mark and not decoration: two sponsors with the same initials are distinguished by the shape of the surrounding punch.
Two or three capital letters struck inside a small outlined shape — a rectangle, oval, shield or lozenge — with the outline forming part of the mark.
The sponsor's mark is one of the three compulsory marks in a UK hallmark.