silver hallmarks,hallmarks silver,english silver hallmarks
The British Hallmarking Council have a very useful website which I recommend to you as worth bookmarking as a reference for all British Hallmarks researchable in one place.
For more information on British hallmarks click on the link below.
Below are pictures of some of the Regional Hallmarks.
British Sterling Silver normally carries 4 marks. These consist of the makers marks which useually are a set of initials of the maker. Then the Lion Passant which was taken from the Royal Coat of Arms and since 1544 signifies silver of the legally required standard. Next will follow the town mark which denotes the assay office the item was tested at. Next will follow the date letter to denote the year the items was tested.
The date letters are significant as they are a series of 20 letters from the alphabet changed annually which denote the year of testing (and usually date made).
Apart from the Brittania Standard mentioned later the legal standard for British Silver was introduced in 1300 when Edward I introduced the requirement to stamp hallmarkes to prevent fraud. Any alloy of silver,copper and other element required a purity of 92.5% silver and the standard of Sterling Silver was firmly established.
Other marks can be found which celebrate a particular event in history such as silver and golden jubilee marks for various monarchs.
As an example of the main marks I have produced the photographs below. If you click on the pictures it will take you to items I have in stock from that assay office. Below each picture is the contact details of each assay office where still active.
 London
ENQUIRIES AND CONTACT INFORMATION
For enquiries and further information, please contact:
Deputy Warden
Assay Office London
Goldsmiths' Hall
Gutter Lane
London EC2V 8AQ
Tel: 020 7606 8971
Fax: 020 7814 9353
E-mail:
info@assayofficelondon.co.uk
|
 Birmingham
Please contact us for more information about:
Phone us on: 0121 236 6951
Fax us on : 0121 236 9032
Write to us at:
PO Box 151
The Assay Office,
Newhall Street,
Birmingham,
B3 1SB
|
 Sheffield
|
 Chester
Silver was assayed at Chester from the early 15th century. Marks were regulated from about the end of the 17th century. The Chester office was re-established in 1701 but finally closed in 1961.
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 Exeter
Silver has been made at Exeter since the Middle Ages. From 1701 the Town Mark of a three towered turreted castle was used with the re-establishment of the Assay Office. The date letter sequence started in November 1701, then changed annually in August from 1702. The Exeter Assay Office closed in 1883 |
Britannia Standard
The need for a new standard arose during the English Civil War. Running an army was expensive and large amounts of silverware were melted down and turned into coins to pay for the troops. Following the restoration of Charles II the reverse became true and coins were being melted down to produce domestic silverware. In order to stop the practice in 1697 a higher standard of silver purity was introduced of 95.8% and named the Britannia Standard. This stopped the practice of melting coins.
For more information on Hallmarking in general visit my Silver Hallmarking page where you can read 101 things you never knew about Hallmarking as well as looking at my European Hallmarks page. |
