HALLMARKS OF ENGLISH AND BRITISH SILVER MAKER'S MARK IDENTIFICATION THE DIRECTORY OF ENGLISH, SCOTTISH, IRISH, CHANNEL ISLANDS AND COLONIES SILVERMITHS

created by Giorgio B. owner of www.silvercollection.it ©

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	Bs into a shield Bravingtons Ltd , Pentonville Road and Ludgate Hill, London Birmingham 1934 hallmark
	BS into two conjoined circles Benjamin Smith London c. 1840 hallmark

	B.S Benjamin Smith II, London 1835 hallmark London 1831 hallmark
	BS into an oval Bruce Stevenson Sheffield 1979 hallmark

	BSEP into an oblong six sides polygon BSE Products, High Street, Steyning, Sussex. Entered 1974 London 2011 hallmark
	BS over IS Benjamin Smith I & James Smith, London 1809 hallmark

London	Birmingham	Dublin	Edinburgh	Sheffield	Chester

The hallmarking of British silver is based on a combination of marks that makes possible the identification of the origin and the age of each piece.
The marks are:

Town mark, corresponding to the mark of the assay office that has verified the piece

Lion's passant guardant or Britannia or lion's head erased certifiying the silver's quality

Maker's mark, identifying the silversmith presenting the piece to the assay office

Date letter, in cycles of twenty letters of the alphabet of different shape identifies the year in which the piece was verified by the assay office

A further mark was used in the period 1784 - 1890:
Sovereign head ('duty mark'), certifying the payment of duty