Why have a hallmark? A hallmark guarantees the amount of silver in and therefore the quality of any item. It has been a legal requirement since 1300.
The hallmark also identifies where and when the item was produced, the maker and which assay office confirmed the quality of the silver. Imported items may have foreign makers marks but should also have a British Assay office mark to guarantee their quality.
It was in the interests of the reigning monarch to ensure that the gold and silver in the treasury was pure and not adulterated. In 1180 Henry II established the Goldsmiths Guild in London allowing them the right to use the Leopards Head hallmark. In 1238, Henry III introduced a silver purity assay to combat fraud but it wasn’t until Edward I in 1300 that the Leopards Head guaranteed Sterling silver (which is 92.5% pure), followed in 1336 by the first Royal charter from Edward III formalising the Goldsmiths Guild as a craft guild and introducing a maker’s mark and date letter alongside the Leopards Head.
At this time, a hallmark comprised three elements –
the Leopards Head representing London (also used for Exeter and York from the 1700s); the maker’s mark, which was originally symbols (usually a crown or coronet) then, from 1600, letters with or without symbols and a date letter. The date letter was changed every May for London, using 20 letters from A to U but excluding J (to avoid any confusion with the letter I). These were then repeated with different letter shapes and shields.
In 1423 Henry VI introduced the Quality and Marks of Silver Work Act, which required every assay office to have its own mark. In 1544 the Lion Passant was introduced for Sterling silver which indicated “sterling” purity, for all assay offices.
In 1697 an Act of Parliament changed the purity standard to 95.83% from 92.5%. This was known as Britannia silver (and should not be confused with Britannia metal, which is a pewter alloy). The hallmark then comprised the makers mark, figure of Britannia, Lions Head and date letter.
But Britannia silver was too soft for every day use so, from 1720, Sterling Silver was reintroduced alongside Britannia silver with both sets of hallmarks in use. A duty mark was introduced in 1748 to show that a tax had been paid for the purity assay and the head of the ruling king or queen was shown and used until 1890. There were now 5 hallmarks.
In 1890, the duty mark was abolished and we are back to the 4 hallmark system of Assay town mark (or Britannia for higher purity), date letter, Lion passant (or lion’s head for higher purity) and makers mark.
Originally there were many assay offices around Britain to enable silversmiths to hallmark their goods. The main marks were for London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Chester, Exeter, York and Newcastle. However, some relatively small towns also had offices. A book of hallmarks will help you to identify the more obscure.
London – 1180 onwards
The town mark for London is the Leopards Head that before 1554 was the standard mark for sterling silver.
York – 1423-1858
York was the most important centre for silver after London. The first town mark was half a leopards head with fleur-de-lys. The leopard then changed to a half rose and then again to a cross containing 5 lions. York hallmarked silver is very rare. The York assay offfice closed down in 1858.
Norwich 1423-1701
The earliest recorded silversmith is in 1285 and Norwich became an Assay office in 1423. The first town mark of a castle above a lion passant was introduced in 1565. The Assay office closed in 1701.
Newcastle 1423 – 1884
Like Norwich, Newcastle became an Assay office after the Act of Henry VI in 1423. The first town mark was a castle which was replaced by three castles in a shield. However, silversmithing was not regular until the late 1600s. This assay office closed in 1884.
Chester 1686 – 1962
The Chester city arms of a shield with three wheatsheaves was initially used as the town mark. In 1701 they added three lions to the mark and then changed again in 1779 to three wheatsheaves with a sword which was used until the closure of the Assay office in 1961.
Exeter 1701 – 1883
An assay office operated in Exeter despite it not being one of the towns in the 1423 Act. The first mark was an X in a circular punch under a crown, which was used in the second half of the 1500s. With the official opening of the Assay Office in 1701, a new town mark of a three towered castle was introduced. Exeter marked silver before to this date is very rare. The Assay office closed in 1883.
There is a wonderful story about how the next two cities arrived at their hallmarks. By the second half of the 18th century Birmingham and Sheffield had become important industrial towns. Matthew Boulton, a major industrialist of the time worked to achieve the opening of Assay Offices in each town despite opposition from the Goldsmiths Company in London. Representatives from each met between the two to negotiate and the hallmarks of the Crown for Sheffield and the Anchor for Birmingham were agreed after the name of the tavern where they met.
Birmingham – 1773 to the present.
Sheffield – 1773 onwards
The town mark of a crown which originated in1773 was changed to the Tudor rose in 1975. As a major northern industrial centre, Sheffield was also responsible for developing Sheffield plate, which is a layered combination of copper and silver, in the second half of the 18th century.
‘Small articles’ had different marks with the crown and the date letter in the same punch, the designs of which varied over the years.
To commemorate the bi-centenary of the Assay office in 1973, Sheffield used the same date letter as was used originally in 1773.
After the ‘lion passant’ for quality, the date letter showing when it was made, the assay mark for which centre had confirmed its purity, the next mark to identify is the maker’s mark. For this, you will need a reference book as there are so many but some of the ones to look out for are shown below.
Paul de Lamerie (London 1713-1751) – the most famous of his era.
Matthew Boulton (Birmingham 1762-1809) – who instigated the setting up of the Birmingham and Sheffield Assay offices.
Paul Storr (London 1792-1838) – most sought after by collectors between 1807 and 1820 when working for Rundell Bridge and Rundell
Archibald Knox (London 1854-1933) – a very important designer of Art Nouveau pieces, mainly for Liberty & Co.
William Comyns (Birmingham and London, family working from 1859 to present)
Walker & Hall (Sheffield and then all of the UK – 1843 to present) Large manufacturer
James Dixon & Sons (Sheffield 1900 – 1925)
Large manufacturer
Mappin & Webb (Sheffield and London 1810 – present)
Possibly the most well known of current manufacturers.
To protect the integrity of the British market, the Custom Act of 1842 ordered that all imported gold and silver had to be assayed at a British office before it could be sold. In 1867 the Foreign hallmark “F” was added to the British hallmark.
In 1904 an Act of the Order of Council ordered that foreign silver had to be marked with the decimal value of silver content.
.925 for Sterling standard
.958 for Britannia silver
A special assay mark for each office was introduced, whilst the F mark was omitted.
The other mark that is commonly found is EPNS. This stands for Electro Plated Nickel Silver. It is not solid silver but a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc, which is then plated with silver.
This is, perforce, a potted history of English silver hallmarks. We often see connoisseurs and dealers alike referring to a book of hallmarks when browsing in the Arcade and we have books of them at the front desk if you have a query.
(With grateful thanks to Adrian and Jane Jefferies, whose presentation forms the basis of this article)
