Silver Hallmarks: How to Identify UK Silver Marks

You have found a spoon, a teapot or a photo frame with a row of tiny stamps on it. Is it solid silver? Where and when was it made? Silver hallmarks can answer both questions, once you know the order to read them in.

In this guide, we walk you through UK silver hallmarks mark by mark: fineness and standard marks, town marks, date letters, maker’s marks, the old duty and import marks, and the stamps that mean silver plate. We also show what the silver in each standard was worth on 3 October 2026, and close with a summary and an FAQ.

What Is a Silver Hallmark?

A silver hallmark is a group of marks struck by an independent assay office after testing the metal. It guarantees that the item contains at least the amount of silver the mark claims. A number stamped by a maker on its own, such as “925”, is a claim. A hallmark is a legal guarantee.

The system is old. According to the Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office, a statute of Edward I in 1300 required gold and silver wares to carry a leopard’s head mark and set the sterling standard of 92.5% silver. Today, hallmarking is governed by the Hallmarking Act 1973.

One common myth is worth clearing up first. A hallmark does not always mean sterling. Silver can be hallmarked at 800, 925, 958 or 999, so the fineness mark tells you which standard the item meets.

How to Read a Modern UK Silver Hallmark

Since 1975, a UK silver hallmark has been built the same way. According to the UK hallmarking guidance notes, three marks are compulsory and the rest are optional:

1. Sponsor’s mark: at least two letters in a surround, identifying the maker, importer or retailer who sent the piece for testing.
2. Fineness mark: the silver content in parts per thousand, inside a surround whose shape shows the metal is silver.
3. Assay office mark: the town mark of the office that tested the item.

The optional marks are a traditional fineness symbol, a date letter (compulsory until 1999) and the Common Control Mark used by members of the International Convention on Hallmarks, which the UK signed in 1972.

Standard Marks: Is It Sterling or Britannia Silver?

The standard mark is the first thing to check. It tells you whether the metal is solid silver and how pure it is. The UK has four legal silver standards:

The lion passant

The lion passant is a lion walking to the left with one paw raised. It has been used on English silver since 1544, according to the Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office, and it is the best-known sign of sterling silver. Collectors use small changes in its shape and shield to help date a piece.

The figure of Britannia and the lion’s head erased

In 1697, Parliament raised the standard for wrought silver to 95.84%, known as Britannia silver. The marks changed to the figure of Britannia and a lion’s head erased (a lion’s head with a jagged neckline). Sterling was restored in 1720, and Britannia silver remained an optional, higher standard. If you see Britannia and a lion’s head erased on a piece, it was made of the higher standard.

The thistle and the lion rampant (Scotland)

Edinburgh silver looks different. From 1759, a thistle served as the sterling standard mark there. Since 1975, Edinburgh has used a lion rampant, a lion standing on its hind legs, in place of the lion passant. The Hallmarking Act still provides for this today.

No standard mark?

If a piece has a maker’s mark and a town-like symbol but no lion, no Britannia and no fineness number, be careful. It may be foreign silver of a lower standard, or silver plate made to look like hallmarked silver. We cover plate marks further down.

Town Marks: Which Assay Office Tested It?

Why does the town mark matter so much? Because each office used its own date letter cycles before 1975. You cannot date a piece from the letter alone. These are the current UK town marks:

Marks of former assay offices

Older silver can carry marks of offices that no longer exist. The ones you will meet most often in British antique silver:

• Chester: three wheatsheaves around a sword,
• Glasgow: a tree, fish and bell,
• Newcastle: three castles,
• Exeter: a castle,
• York: shown in different forms over the centuries, so check a specialist directory,
• Dublin: a crowned harp (Irish silver, under a separate system).

For these, a hallmark directory such as Jackson’s or Bradbury’s is the usual reference. Exact closing dates vary between sources, so check against a directory before you rely on one.

Date Letters: How to Date Silver

A date letter is a single letter in a specific typeface, case and shield shape. London introduced the system in 1478, according to the Goldsmiths’ Company. Each office ran its own cycles, which is why town mark and date letter must always be read together.

How do you use them? Follow these steps:

1. Identify the town mark: anchor, leopard’s head, crown or rose, castle.
2. Note the letter exactly: upper or lower case, plain or gothic, and the shape of the shield around it.
3. Find the matching chart: look up that office’s date letter table for the right period.
4. Cross-check: the duty mark or style of the lion should fit the same period.

Since 1975, all four offices have used the same date letter, changing on 1 January each year, according to the Sheffield Assay Office. Since 1999, the letter has been optional. The letter for 2025 is “A”, the start of a new cycle.

Maker’s Marks: Who Made Your Silver?

The maker’s mark is the oldest mark after the leopard’s head, compulsory since 1363. Early marks were often symbols. Over time they became the initials of the silversmith or firm, usually inside a shaped punch.

Today the same mark is called the sponsor’s mark, because the company submitting the item is not always the maker. A maker’s mark can add a lot of value. Pieces by famous silversmiths sell for far more than their melt value, so it is worth looking up an unknown mark before you sell.

Duty Marks: A Tax Receipt in Silver

Between 1784 and 1890, silver carried an extra mark: the head of the reigning sovereign. It showed that a tax on silver plate had been paid, according to the Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office. The tax was withdrawn in 1890, and the head disappeared with it.

What does a duty mark tell you? It narrows the date range at once. A sovereign’s head means the piece was most likely marked between 1784 and 1890, and the monarch shown narrows it further.

Import Marks: Foreign Silver in Britain

Imported silver has its own marks. From 1867, imported silver had to carry an extra “F” in an oval next to the British hallmark. After the Hallmarking of Foreign Plate Act 1904, each office used a special import mark, and the fineness was shown as a decimal, such as .925 or .958, instead of the lion or Britannia.

Today, imported silver is hallmarked like British silver. Articles with a Convention hallmark from another member country are legally recognised in the UK and do not have to be re-hallmarked.

Silver Plate Marks: When It Is Not Solid Silver

Silver plate is base metal with a thin coating of silver. It can look like hallmarked silver at first glance, especially when the maker used marks shaped like hallmarks. How do you tell them apart? Check for these stamps:

Old Sheffield Plate, made by fusing silver onto copper before electroplating took over in the mid-19th century, is a collecting field of its own. It carries maker’s marks but no hallmark, because it is not solid silver. For a deeper look at fineness, read our guide on how to tell real from fake silver.

Which Silver Items Must Be Hallmarked?

In the UK, an article described as silver must be hallmarked unless it is exempt. The key thresholds, from the guidance notes:

• Weight: silver items under 7.78 grams are exempt,
• Age: items made before 1950 can be sold as silver without a hallmark if the seller can prove they are at least 800 fine and pre-1950,
• Coins: any coin that is or was current coin of the UK or another territory is exempt,
• Bullion: bars and other bullion are exempt.

That last point surprises many buyers. A silver Britannia or a 1 kg silver bar carries no hallmark. You check it by its design, weight and dimensions instead. Our guides to spotting a fake silver Britannia and fake gold and silver coins show what to look for.

The rules are enforced. Operation Stamping It Out, run by London Trading Standards with funding from the London Assay Office, seized more than £250,000 worth of silver and gold jewellery without hallmarks and won the 2025 Touchstone Award. The head of the National Association of Jewellers commented:

“Operation Stamping It Out has laid bare the serious threat that the illicit trade in un-hallmarked precious metals poses to consumers and to the UK jewellery industry.”

Ben Massey, Chief Executive of the National Association of Jewellers, GOV.UK announcement of the Touchstone Award 2025, July 2025

How to Spot Fake Silver Hallmarks

Fake and misleading marks fall into two groups: pseudo-hallmarks on silver plate, and forged marks on silver or base metal. Warning signs include:

• marks in a neat row that look like hallmarks but contain no lion, Britannia or fineness number,
• a symbol that is not a UK town mark, such as a random crown or star on a modern piece,
• a date letter that does not fit the town mark or the style of the item,
• soft, blurred marks that look cast rather than struck,
• a duty mark on an item whose style is clearly from after 1890,
• wear that shows a different coloured metal underneath.

Not sure? A UK assay office can test the metal and give an opinion on the marks. Counterfeiting a hallmark is an offence under the Hallmarking Act.

What Is Your Hallmarked Silver Worth?

For everyday silver such as cutlery, value is mostly melt value. Use this formula:

Silver value = weight in grams × (fineness ÷ 1,000) × silver price per gram

A 500 g sterling silver teapot contained about £681 of silver on 3 October 2026 (500 × 0.925 × £1.473). A scrap buyer will offer less than that, because of refining costs and margin. Pieces by sought-after makers, or with rare marks, can be worth more than their metal, so get an antiques opinion first.

Weighing items with handles or bases filled with pitch? Many candlesticks are “loaded” with filler, so their silver weight is much lower than their total weight. Check the silver price per gram and the silver price chart in GBP before you sell.

Summary: Silver Hallmarks

Compare Silver Prices Before You Buy or Sell

Hallmarks tell you what your silver is. Prices tell you what it is worth today. If you are thinking about buying silver as an investment rather than as silverware, bullion coins and bars are the usual route, and their prices differ from dealer to dealer.

Compare silver coin prices and silver bar prices at UK dealers, or browse our list of UK bullion dealers. Read also: Gold Hallmarks: How to Read UK Gold Marks, and our guide to the best silver coins for investment.

This article is for information only and is not investment or tax advice.