Hallmark is an official set of marks used in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and many other countries to stamp gold, silver, or platinum articles to guarantee their quality. By law, makers of such articles for sale, that are described as consisting of these metals, must use metal of a fixed standard of purity. Hallmarks may be stamped anywhere on an article, provided that they can be seen clearly, but care is taken not to spoil the design. These marks provide a convenient means for experts to readily determine the origin and age of the article.
A variety of tests, collectively known as an assay, may be used to determine the purity of the metal in an article. Once the test is completed, the article is stamped with one or more marks, such as the fineness or standard mark, the assay office mark, and the date mark. A metal article may also be stamped with the maker’s mark or sponsor’s mark before it is sent to the assay office or after the assay is complete. Collectively, these marks make up the hallmark, which is a guarantee that the article has been assayed and meets the indicated standard.
The fineness or standard mark
shows that the metal from which the article is made is of the required purity. Before 1975, the purity of a metal was expressed in karats (spelled carats in the United Kingdom). For example, pure gold is 24 karats, and 18-karat gold would be 75 percent pure. Today, a different scale that indicates the number of parts of precious metal in 1,000 parts of metal is also used. In the United Kingdom, for example, six standards of fineness for gold are employed: 999, 990, 916, 750, 585, and 375. The last four figures correspond to 22, 18, 14, and 9 karats, respectively. In the Republic of Ireland, the assay office uses karats as a standard and has a 20-karat standard in addition to the purities used in the United Kingdom.
The assay office mark.
Each assay office has its own stamp so that the location of the testing can be readily determined. The assay offices authorized to do hallmarking in the United Kingdom are in Birmingham, Edinburgh, London, and Sheffield. The Irish authorized office is in Dublin.
The date mark.
The assay office also may stamp the article with a date stamp to indicate when the article was tested. In the United Kingdom, the date mark is also called the date letter, because it is in the form of a letter that changes each year. The letters usually follow in alphabetical order, and each series is called a cycle. Each cycle has its own style of lettering. For example, one cycle may have Roman capitals and the next may have small italic letters. The letter chosen, however, may vary between assay offices on British items produced before 1975.
The maker’s and sponsor’s mark.
Makers commonly have their own special mark to identify articles made in their shops. For example, in England from the late 1300’s to the 1600’s, an emblem, such as a crown or a star, was usually used. After an Act of Parliament was passed in 1697, the law required that the mark consist of the first two letters of the goldsmith’s family name, but beginning in 1739, the sponsor’s mark had to consist of the initial letters of both the given name and family name.
History.
Hallmarking started in France in the late 1200’s. English hallmarking began in 1300, when London goldsmiths stamped silver goods with a leopard’s head. In 1327, the goldsmiths’ charter gave them power to assay and mark gold and silver articles that met minimum standards of fineness. The maker’s mark was first used in England in 1363, and the date mark in 1478. After 1544, a lion passant guardant (lion walking, head turned to the side) was used as the standard mark on silver of sterling quality, or 925 out of 1,000 parts. All English assay offices were required to use this mark in 1720. The lion symbol for sterling was changed to a lion passant (walking, head forward) in 1822. Ireland started requiring hallmarks in 1637.
