A hallmark answers three questions at once: is it really silver, when was it made and who made it. Once you learn to read the small stack of symbols punched into the base, most silver becomes surprisingly transparent. This guide covers the marks that appear on the everyday pieces you find in shops, estates and flea markets.
Pillar guide
Silver hallmarks cluster
Use the country guide as your map, then dig into the lion passant and the hallmark identifier when you want the app workflow.
Britain and Ireland
The British system is the most standardised. Look for four punches together: the lion passant (sterling standard, 92.5%), the town mark (an anchor for Birmingham, a leopard's head for London, a rose crowned for Sheffield, a castle for Edinburgh), the date letter (a rotating alphabet, often in different fonts and shields per cycle) and the maker's initials.
Ireland uses a crowned harp and a Hibernia figure. Britannia standard (95.8%) is marked with the seated Britannia figure and appears mostly on early 18th-century pieces and some special commissions.
Lion passant — what the walking lion means
The lion passant (a lion walking to the left, one paw raised) is the sterling standard mark for England. It tells you the metal meets 925/1000 purity — not the town, not the year, and not the maker. Those come from the other punches in the set.
Scotland traditionally used a thistle for sterling instead of the lion passant; Ireland used the harp. If you only see a walking lion with no town mark, treat the piece as incomplete evidence — genuine British sterling almost always shows the full group of punches on silver of meaningful size.
Fake or decorative 'lion' stamps appear on plate and tourist ware. Compare strike depth, shield shape, and whether a matching town and date letter sit beside it. A lone crisp lion on a soft, lightweight piece is a common warning sign.
- Lion passant = English sterling (92.5%), not a maker name
- Pair it with town mark + date letter + maker for a full reading
- Scotland: thistle · Ireland: harp — different sterling symbols
British assay offices at a glance
Once you recognise the lion passant, the town mark tells you where the piece was assayed. The four you meet most often:
- London — leopard's head (crowned on earlier cycles)
- Birmingham — anchor
- Sheffield — rose (historically a crown; later a rose)
- Edinburgh — castle (Scotland; sterling often with thistle)
- Dublin — crowned harp (Ireland)
Sterling vs silver plate
Silver plate (EPNS, EPBM, 'A1', 'triple plate') is a base metal coated with silver. It can look convincing, but it is not sterling and does not carry a true lion passant assay set. Stamps that say SHEFFIELD PLATE, EPNS, or show a made-up crest without a fineness standard are plate language.
Weight and wear help: plate often shows brass or nickel at high points; sterling wears more evenly and feels denser for the same size. AntiqID cross-checks the mark claim against construction and surface wear instead of trusting a single stamp.
France
The head of Minerva in profile is the classic French sterling mark for silver of at least 950 fineness (first standard), introduced in 1838. Small pieces and imports carry different variants — a crab head for large export items, and a boar's head for small silver.
The maker's mark is a diamond-shaped punch with two initials framing a small symbol. Older French silver has separate warden and city marks; a specialist reference is required to date the exact year.
Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Modern German silver carries a three-figure fineness number (usually 800, 835 or 925) together with a crescent moon and imperial crown (Halbmond und Reichskrone) introduced in 1888. City and maker marks appear on older or high-end pieces.
Austro-Hungarian silver used a Diana head with numbers indicating both purity and city; Swiss silver often carries a bear or crossbow together with the fineness number.
Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia
Dutch silver is famously well-marked. The lion rampant with a numeral 1 or 2 (indicating first or second standard) sits next to the sword of Minerva (assay mark) and a date letter. Local workshops added their own maker's mark, which is required for reliable attribution.
Swedish silver carries three crowns, a date letter, a city stamp and a maker mark — one of the most complete systems anywhere. Danish silver, including Georg Jensen, often includes a purity number, a maker mark and an assay date.
United States and Latin America
American silver is far less regulated. From roughly 1860 onward, most pieces are simply stamped 'STERLING' or '925'. Coin silver (about 900 fineness) appears in earlier work. The maker's name — Tiffany, Gorham, Kirk, Reed & Barton — is the strongest value signal because there is no official assay office.
Mexican silver typically has the eagle mark and a numeric assayer code (e.g. TC-119 for Los Castillo, TT-01 for William Spratling). Latin American colonial silver may show 'Ley' with a purity number.
What if the mark is a copy?
Modern reproductions sometimes wear convincing fake hallmarks. Two habits help: check that the fineness matches the weight and thickness (a very light 'sterling' piece is suspicious), and always look at the mark together with the object's style and construction. AntiqID scores all three at once and flags mismatches instead of pretending to be certain.
Quick reference
- Britain: lion passant + town + date letter + maker (four punches)
- Lion passant = English sterling 925 — not the workshop name
- Town marks: London leopard, Birmingham anchor, Sheffield rose, Edinburgh castle
- Plate often says EPNS / A1 — it is not sterling
- France: Minerva head (950 first standard) + diamond maker
- Germany: crescent and crown + 800/835/925
- USA: 'STERLING' or '925' plus the maker's name
Read any silver mark with AntiqID
Photograph the punch and let AntiqID identify the country, purity, likely date and workshop.
Available on the App Store