The History of Hallmarks: What Do The Stamps Mean?

Flip over the band of a vintage ring or peer closely at the back of an antique brooch and you’ll often find a series of tiny stamped symbols. At first glance they might look like nothing more than small decorative marks, but these are hallmarks and they carry centuries of tradition, regulation, and meaning.

Hallmarking is one of the oldest forms of consumer protection in the world. It tells us the story of a piece: what it’s made from, where it came from, and when it was made. Understanding these marks not only adds richness to the history of a piece, it also helps to confirm its authenticity and value.

Where Hallmarking Began

The practice of hallmarking can be traced back over 700 years. In 1300, King Edward I passed a law requiring all silver to meet the standard of "sterling" quality, and appointed official assayers to test and mark compliant pieces. This was the beginning of hallmarking in England and the foundation of what would become the Goldsmiths' Company Assay Office in London.

By the 18th century, hallmarking was widely standardised across Britain. It wasn’t just about verifying precious metal content, it was a way of safeguarding trust between maker and buyer. Today, it remains a legal requirement in the UK for items sold as gold, silver, platinum or palladium, unless they fall below minimum weight thresholds.

What Do the Marks Mean?

Hallmarks are typically made up of a series of individual stamps, each with its own specific meaning. A typical British hallmark will include four or five symbols.

First, there’s the maker’s mark, a set of initials registered to the individual or company responsible for the piece. This is followed by the fineness mark, which tells you the purity of the metal, for example, 375 for 9ct gold or 925 for sterling silver.

Next is the assay office mark, indicating where the piece was tested and hallmarked. A leopard’s head means London, an anchor means Birmingham, and a rose means Sheffield. You’ll often also find a date letter, a single character assigned to each year in a rotating alphabetical cycle. Some older pieces may even carry a duty mark, which signified that tax had been paid on the item at the time of hallmarking.

Why Hallmarks Still Matter Today

In a world where mass production and global supply chains make provenance harder to trace, hallmarks remain one of the most reliable indicators of a piece’s authenticity and quality. For antique jewellery lovers, they are a way to connect more deeply with history. For buyers of modern pieces, they are a reassurance of value and trust.

At Walter Bull & Son, we regularly use hallmarks to date and authenticate antique pieces. We also send every new item of fine jewellery we create to be officially hallmarked at a UK assay office, in keeping with centuries of goldsmithing tradition. It’s a small detail, but one that speaks volumes about a piece’s journey - from the bench, to the counter, to your collection.