British Hallmarking System

I would recommend all collectors to acquire a copy of "Jackson's Hallmarks: English, Scottish, Irish Silver and Gold Marks from 1300 to the Present Day" as a basis of further research.

It has always been difficult to determine the purity of silver in an object by visual means and many countries have tried to establish a system of ensuring that certain standards are kept to protect customers who buy silver objects.

In Great Britain a system developed about six hundred years ago, when laws were passed to fix the purity of silver in manufactured articles to be at least 925 parts of silver in every thousand parts. This standard became known as Sterling silver and, in order to be struck with a sterling silver mark, any object had to be sent to, and tested by, the wardens of the goldsmiths guild at the London Assay Office.

This system represented the first form of consumer protection world wide. It was no until 1478, a further mark known as the date letter was added. This date letter changed each year and has proved to be of enormous value giving an accurate guide to the year in which an item was made.

As other assay offices were established in different towns and struck their own identifying marks, it rapidly became possible to look at any piece of British silver and find marks which show standard, town of assay, year of manufacture and maker. This is a unique system and, coupled with the excellence of the silversmith, that British silver is held in such high regard.

The minimum standard of silver within Britain has always been set at the Sterling standard (92.5 %), and this is represented by the Lion, either passant (English) or rampant (Scottish). The term "Sterling Silver", emerged in England by the 13th century. The terms "sterling" and "pound sterling", have acquired their meaning over a period of time, and from several convergent sources. The first mention is that of "sterilensis" in 1078, and by the thirteenth century (by the 1200's) the term sterling had appeared. "sterling" comes from the Old French esterlin and then stiere (strong, firm, immovable) in Old English.

Britannia silver is an alloy of silver containing 95.84% silver.This standard was introduced in England by Act of Parliament in 1697 to replace sterling silver as the obligatory standard for items of silver. The lion passant gardant hallmark denoting sterling was replaced with "the figure of a woman commonly called Britannia", and the leopard's head mark of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths replaced with a "lion's head erased".

Britannia standard silver was introduced by the British government as part of the great recoinage scheme of William III from 1696, when attempts were made to limit the clipping and melting of sterling silver coinage. It was thought that by maintaining a higher standard for silver, there would be less incentive to put the newly issued sterling coins in the melting pot.

Sterling silver was approved again for use by silversmiths from 1 June 1720, and thereafter Britannia silver has remained an optional standard for silver assay in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Since the hallmarking changes of 1 January 1999, Britannia silver has been denoted by the millesimal fineness hallmark 958, with the symbol of Britannia being applied optionally.

Before the advent of mass transport and efficient communications there were many assay offices dotted around Britain to enable silversmiths to hallmark their goods. Even some relatively small towns had offices such as Plymouth, Colchester, Lincoln, Shrewsbury, Preston, Hull, Carlisle, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Perth, Cork, and Limerick. In England the main marks were for London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Chester, Exeter, York, Newcastle and Norwich.

The main marks in Scotland were for Edinburgh and Glasgow. For Ireland there is Dublin. As time passed, all of these smaller provincial assay offices closed down. Pieces of silverware with rare town marks are now very collectible and command high prices when they are offered for sale. Today the only assay offices that are left open for hallmarking are London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Their marks are shown below.

London

LONDON, England (1300 - Present)

THE LONDON ASSAY OFFICE

London Assay Office

The crowned leopard's head was used 1478 - 1822, the uncrowned from 1822 - Present

BIRMINGHAM, England (1773 - Present)

THE BIRMINGHAM ASSAY OFFICE

Birmingham Assay Office

CHESTER, England (1701 - 1961)

Chester (closed 1961)

Plate 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 and closed in 1961. Prior to the establishment of the Birmingham Assay Office in 1773, most of the plate produced in the Midlands and the north west of England was "touched" at Chester. The date letter which followed a 25 year cycle was changed in July

1686 - 1701 Three wheatsheaves ("garbs") with sword.

SHEFFIELD, England (1773 - Present)

THE SHEFFIELD ASSAY OFFICE

Sheffield Assay Office

Telephone: +44 (0) 114 275 5111

EXETER, England (1701 - 1883)

Exeter (closed 1883)

EDINBURUGH, Scotland (1681 - 1974)

THE SCOTTISH ASSAY OFFICE

Edinburgh Assay Office

GLASGOW, Scotland (1681 - 1964)

Glasgow (closed 1964) Until 1819 only city mark, date letter and maker's mark.

DUBLIN, Ireland (1636 - Present)

Dublin Assay Office

NEWCASTLE, England (1702 - 1884)

Newcastle (closed 1884)

YORK, England (1560 - 1857)

Until 1701 only city mark, date letter and maker's mark.

York (closed 1857)

The alphabet cycle is used to indicate the date of manufacture. With the letter changing each year you would expect 26 options, but after each cycle the style of the lettering changed, and also the shield that the letter was surrounded by. The autonomy of each Assay Office and the piecemeal development of the Law over the centuries led to many peculiarities in the marks and in their application, so in 1973 a new Hallmarking Act was passed that tidied up many of the complexities and anomalies and led to a simplified date letter system. From 1975, all the major assay offices, excluding Dublin, used the same date letter cycle starting at the same letter. This made it a lot easier to understand but still retained as much of the interest and tradition as possible. Certain dates were commemorated with special marks such as the present Queens Jubilee in 1977, or King George V's jubilee of 1935. These are again quite collectible and starting to command a premium.

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 2/06/1953

Each town or area obviously had a number of registered silversmiths and they all had their individual marks, which they sometimes changed to reflect changes in their business lives. But it was still the assay office that held their mark and there are various books that list makers marks.Certain makers are again very collectible and command very high prices. For example Paul Storr, Hester Bateman, and Christopher Dresser.