Until 1998, a Hallmark consisted of four COMPULSORY MARKS.  Since 1998 the date letter has become optional but the other three symbols remain compulsory. The symbols give the following information:

• who made the article
• what is its guaranteed standard of fineness
• the Assay Office at which the article was tested and marked
• the year in which the article was tested and marked
  

Assay Office Mark
There are now only four British Assay Offices in existence, but there have been more in the past.

Birmingham	London	Edinburgh	Sheffield

Optional Marks
In addition to the Compulsory Marks a sponsor may wish to incorporate any of the traditional marks which have been struck on British articles over the centuries and which have been recognised throughout the world.
For more information on Optional Hallmarks Click Here

Date Letter
This will tell you in which year the article was tested and marked. To see the full series of date letters for Birmingham Assay Office click here

Commemorative Marks
Special Marks to commemorate significant national  events may also be added if a sponsor chooses. The Millenium Mark to celebrate the year 2000 was very popular and was applied to over 5 million articles of jewellery and silverware. The most recent commemorative mark was to honour the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002. For more information on Commemorative Marks click Here

Other Marks
Other marks have been used historically for example, the Duty Mark and classic marks such as the figure of Britannia to signify Britannia Silver.

For more information about Commemorative and Other Marks please click here

This symbol does not appear in all hallmarks, but if it does, it will tell you that the item was marked during a year when duty was levied on gold and silver by the Crown. Duty marks will appear on items marked at the Birmingham Assay Office from 1784 until 1890.

Convention Marks & Other Acceptable Hallmarks
As an alternative to the traditional UK Hallmarks articles may be marked with a Convention Hallmark which may have been applied by any one of the countries included in the International Convention on Hallmarking.
Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice, the UK is required to accept other national hallmarks. Under the guidelines of the British Hallmarking Council, those national hallmarks deemed equivalent to UK hallmarks can be seen by clicking here

If you wish to identify an early hallmark, or just learn more about historic hallmarks, please visit our Early Silver Hallmarks Database