Seven marks that appear on precious metals

It can be considered one of the earliest forms of consumer protection when Edward I introduced Hallmarking in 1300, setting a silver standard of 92.5%, whereby all silver manufactured had to be passed by a government official and stamped with the big cat’s head known as the Leopard’s Head of London… which is actually a lion. In heraldic terms, the lion passant guardant is called a leopart… with a ‘t’.

In 1327, Edward III chartered the Goldsmiths Company, at Goldsmiths Hall, for assay work,
hence the term ‘Hallmarking’. In 1478, a date letter was introduced which was compulsory until 1999; it is used now if asked for.

There are seven marks that can appear on precious metals:

1. The sponsors mark. This is the registered markof the sponsor or maker. I have LS registered at Birmingham and LSW at London. You can choose various shapes the initials appear in.

2. The metal and fineness mark. The shape of the cartouche denotes the type of precious metal (gold, silver, platinum or palladium) and the number inside identifies the purity of the metal. This is a millesimal number denoting the purity of the metal in parts per thousand. 9ct gold is 375 parts gold and 625 parts other metals.

3. The common control mark. This is stamped by countries who have signed up to the
International Convention on Hallmarking.

4. Traditional fineness mark. An older mark indicating the fineness of metals.

5. The Assay Office mark.

London. The leopard. Birmingham. An anchor mark, which seems irrational as it almost as far away from the sea as it is possible to get. The story goes the group of men responsible for setting up both the Birmingham and Sheffield Assay Offices in 1773 met at the Crown and Anchor pub. Birmingham got the anchor. Sheffield, got the crown. Edinburgh’s mark is a castle. There have been other assay offices, now defunct, and are of great interest to collectors. They are Exeter 1700/1883; Chester,1700/1962; Newcastle, 1700/l884; York, 1559, closed 1697, re-opened 1701, closed again in 171; Glasgow, 1819/1964; Dublin is active.

6. The date mark. This is a letter in a variety of fonts and shapes denoting the year of
manufacture.

7. Commemorative mark. For instance, the Millennium mark of 2000 in a cross, or 2012
Queen’s Jubilee mark. These were not automatically included by the assay offices but had to be asked (and paid) for by the sponsors or manufacturers.

The jewellers’ bible for hallmarking is a slim volume, the pocket edition of Jackson’s Hallmarks, which details English, Scottish and Irish gold and silver hallmarks. It gives lists of makers, what they made and when, and a lot of other info.

A note on Palladium:

Hallmarking of palladium became compulsory in January 2010. The shape of the cartouche for
palladium was a trapezium. With wear, the shape became less delineated and too closely resembled the shape for platinum. So the assay offices changed the shape to three adjoining circles with the fineness numbers written inside. However, many pieces have been hallmarked with the trapezium; one for the collectors perhaps?

If you have any jewellery enquiries, do get in touch.

StrawberryWood
0800 917 8684
P.O. Box 7491, Kettering, N16 6HU
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www.strawberrywood.co.uk

StrawberryWood
0800 917 8684
P.O. Box 7491, Kettering, N16 6HU
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.strawberrywood.co.uk 

Strawberrywood

StrawberryWood