Antique Silver

How to Identify Silver Hall Marks When Buying Antique Silver

When buying English Silver there are handy clues to the who, where and when the piece was made. The clues come in the form of hallmarks, these hallmarks are easy to look up online or in specialist books. Most genuine silver pieces will have 4 or 5 of these impressed hallmarks, they are often small and a magnify glass or loupe is often required to accurately read them.

Once you have identified that the piece contains hallmarks you then need to find out who, where and when the piece was made. The first mark is often the

Lion Passant (lion with a raised leg, walking left); this is the indicator that your item is English Sterling Silver. It is otherwise known as the Sterling Mark. Next your will often see the place it was made, for example a Leopard is used for London, a anchor is used for Birmingham and a castle with shield is Newcastle. You can learn more information about the city marks from online resources or good antique silver publications.

So far you can ascertain that your piece is antique silver and you will have worked out where the piece has been made. Next, it is handy to know when the piece was made. For this you need the hallmark with the date letter. Each date in history is given a letter, again good silver books will give you the full listing. Obviously they would have quickly ran out of letters to use over the years so they used upper and lowercase, different fonts and backgrounds such as shields. You can look up your date letter then you can be certain when it was made, which can make a huge difference to value.

On pieces made between 1784 and 1890 you will often see the duty mark. This mark shows that the piece has been presented to the assay office for taxing. Finally, most maker would put their mark on the piece to display who was the manufacturer of the fine piece. This can make a huge difference to the value for the piece, finding a piece by a certain maker can lead to the jackpot!

Through studying these 4 or 5 marks you have now found out that the piece is English Silver, which City it was made, when it was made and by who, which is quite handy when working out the value of the piece.

Please look out for future articles on where to buy and sell antique silver.

About the Author

Chris Farnworth has several years in the antiques trade and specialises in antique silver pieces. Further information about Chris can be found at www.antiquesattic.co.uk

Types of antique silver spoons & forks