How to read silver hallmarks

What a hallmark is

A hallmark is a set of small stamps on gold or silver that records its purity and, in many countries, where and when it was tested. They are usually on the underside, the back of a handle, or inside a rim. A magnifying glass or your phone's camera zoomed in makes them readable.

British hallmarks

British silver usually carries four or five marks, and together they tell you almost everything:

• The standard mark. A lion passant (a walking lion, facing left) means sterling, 92.5% silver, tested in England. Scotland and Ireland used their own symbols, such as the thistle for Edinburgh and the crowned harp for Dublin. A seated Britannia figure means the higher Britannia standard, 95.8%.
• The assay office mark, which shows the city: a leopard's head for London, an anchor for Birmingham, a crown for Sheffield (a rose after 1974), and a castle for Edinburgh.
• The date letter. A letter that changed every year. Its font and the shape of the shield around it place it in a cycle, so a date-letter chart for that city gives you the exact year.
• The maker's mark, usually the maker's initials in a shield.
• The duty mark (on pieces from 1784 to 1890), a small profile of the reigning monarch, showing tax was paid.

American silver

• "Sterling" or "925" means 92.5% silver. Most American sterling simply says so.
• "Coin" or "Pure Coin", on pieces from roughly before the 1860s, usually means about 90% silver.
• Many makers added their own symbols, so a maker's name next to "Sterling" is a good sign for value.

Continental European silver

Much European silver is marked with a number giving the silver content in parts per thousand:

German silver from 1888 often pairs the number with a crescent moon and a crown. French silver uses a small head of Minerva.

Marks that mean silver plate

These usually mean a thin layer of silver over another metal, which is worth far less than solid silver:

• EPNS (electroplated nickel silver), EP, EPBM, A1
• The words "silver plate" or "quadruple plate"
• "Nickel silver" or "German silver", which contain no silver at all
• A famous maker's name alone, such as "Rogers", without the word "sterling", is usually plate.

Quick checks at home

• Magnet: silver is not magnetic. If a magnet sticks firmly, it is not solid silver. (Passing doesn't prove it is.)
• Wear: plated pieces show copper or brass where the plating has worn through, often on edges and handles.
• Tarnish: silver tarnishes grey to black. Brass and copper turn brown or green.

What makes silver valuable

Solid silver always has a value by weight, the "melt" value (the same is true of old silver coins). Above that, the maker, the age, the design and the condition decide what collectors pay. A signed piece by a known silversmith can be worth many times its metal; a worn, common spoon is worth about its weight. Don't polish heavily before selling: buyers prefer to judge the surface themselves.

Related guides

• How to value inherited antiques
• What is my old coin worth?
• How to tell if a watch is fake

Worthzy gives estimates and an authenticity screening, not a certified appraisal. For anything valuable, have a qualified specialist examine it in person.