Hallmarks are most often found on precious metal objects. Jewelry is exempted from hallmarking under certain circumstances. However, when a piece of jewelry is hallmarked, the marks can yield clues to country of origin and, sometimes, date of manufacture, as well as indicate the metal content of the piece. The word hallmark is derived from London’s Goldsmiths’ Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, the originator of Britain’s first hallmarks, which still maintains a record of all British hallmarks.

 

The most accurate definition of a hallmark is the mark or marks stamped, impressed, or struck on gold, silver, or platinum which indicate fineness or karat (also called quality or purity marks). Depending on country of origin, hallmarks can also include symbols for place of assay, date of assay (in the form of a letter or a letter and a number), maker’s mark, importation or exportation mark if applicable, and tax or duty mark. Hallmarks have been in use in England and France since the 14th century. Most other European countries also use hallmarks.

 

The United States has never used hallmarks per se. Indications of fineness or karat have been required since 1906, but fineness marks were sometimes stamped on silver jewelry in the 19th century (“coin” or “standard” for 900 silver, “sterling” for 925). The French have what is undoubtedly the most complex system of hallmarks in the world, and the most difficult to read. If you can learn to recognize the French marks for gold, silver and platinum, you will have done well. The difficulty lies in the fact that the French never use numbers. Symbols in the form of animals and heads of animals and people, insects, and birds have been used to indicate fineness, place of manufacture, imports and exports. These have changed over the centuries. Tardy’s Hallmarks on Silver, in English, can help decipher most of these marks, and help with understanding the book on gold and platinum marks, which has not been translated from the French.

 

The most easily recognized and commonly seen French mark is the eagle’s head, in use since 1838, indicating 18 karat gold. Assayed French gold is never lower than 18k. The mark can be found on jewelry in any number of places. Look for it on clasps, side edges, galleries, and pin stems as well as on the back surface of a piece. On French silver jewelry, the most often-seen mark is the boar’s head, the mark of the Paris Assay Office, indicating a fineness of 800 or higher on small articles (such as jewelry).

 

This mark was in use from 1838 to 1961. Outside of Paris, the crab mark was used from 1838 to 1961, and since 1962, has also been used by the Paris Assay Office. Platinum was not officially recognized by the French government as a precious metal until 1910, at which time the eagle’s head for gold was also used for platinum. In 1912, a special mark for platinum was introduced, a dog’s head. Before 1910, French platinum jewelry may have a maker's mark, but it was not hallmarked. Many European countries mark silver and gold with numerical fineness marks in thousandths, e.g., 800, 830, 900, 935, etc. for silver, 333, 500, 585, 750, 875, etc. for gold. Other symbols may be used in combination with these numbers.

 

The British system of hallmarking is somewhat complex, but relatively easy to follow once the system is deciphered. British hallmarks include a fineness or purity mark, an assay office mark, a date letter, and usually but not always, a maker’s mark. A royal duty mark was added from 1784 to 1890 (not always found on jewelry of this period). The sequence of marks on a piece is arbitrary. On gold, a crown plus the karat (spelled with a “c” in Britain, abbreviated “c” or “ct”) was used from 1798 until 1975 (22 ct was marked the same as sterling silver until 1844). In Scotland, a thistle was used instead of the crown. From 1798 to 1854, only gold assayed at 18 and 22 ct was permissible and hallmarked. In 1854, 15, 12, and 9 ct were legalized. The fineness in thousandths was added to these karat marks from 1854 to 1932. On English silver, the lion passant (walking lion) is the symbol for sterling silver (925). Scottish silver before 1975, like gold, bears a thistle mark. A higher silver standard, Britannia silver (958.4) was required to be used for a short period at the end of the 17th century, bearing the figure of Britannia instead of the lion. Britannia silver is still legal, but has been seldom used since the reinstatement of the sterling standard in 1720. The lion passant was retained in the Hallmarking Act of 1975, but the Scottish thistle was changed to a rampant lion. Assay offices have been located in a number of British cities. The ones still in operation today are in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh. Most jewelry will bear a London, Birmingham, or Chester place of assay mark (the Chester assay office closed in 1962). The mark for London is referred to as a leopard’s head (crowned before 1821). The mark for Birmingham is an anchor.

 

Most hallmarks books indicate an upright anchor for silver and a sideways anchor for gold, but this was not strictly adhered to. The mark for Chester is a shield bearing the town’s arms, a sword and three sheaves of wheat. Because of the association of British sterling with quality, some American manufacturers emulated the British, making sterling objects and jewelry long before the United States government nationalized the sterling standard in 1906. Not only were British styles and metal quality imitated; some American maker’s marks bear a striking resemblance to British hallmarks. The most well-known of these is the mark of Gorham Manufacturing Co., featuring a walking lion, an anchor and an Old English style capital G, looking very much like a Birmingham hallmark for 1830. Most American maker’s marks can be found in Dorothy Rainwater’s American Jewelry Manufacturers. References for this Guide are as follows: Bly, John, Miller’s Silver & Sheffiield Plate Marks (English, Continental European, and American), Reed International Books, Ltd, 1993 Divis, Jan, Guide to Gold Marks of the World and Guide to Silver Marks of the World, English translation reprints, Promotional Reprint Co. Ltd, 1994> Pickford, Ian, ed. Jackson’s Hallmarks, pocket edition (English, Scottish, Irish silver and gold marks), Antique Collectors’ Club, 1991 Pickford, Ian, ed. Jackson’s Silver and Gold Marks of England, Scotland and Ireland, Antique Collectors’ Club, 1989 Rainwater, Dorothy, American Jewelry Manufacturers, Schiffer Publishing, 1988 Tardy, International Hallmarks on Silver, Tardy, Paris, 1993 Tardy, Poinçons d’Or et de Platine (French text), Tardy, Paris, 1988 Wyler, Seymour B., The Book of Old Silver (English, European, American), Crown Publishers, 1937 (still in print)

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