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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	G.W into a rectangle under a crown George Wickes, London 1737 hallmark A business still active in present days ... MORE....
	G.W into a lozenge Graham Watling, Church Street, Lacock, Wiltshire London 1972 hallmark
	GW gothic under a crown George Wickes , London 1743 hallmark London 1745 hallmark A business still active in present days ... MORE....
	GW George Wintle, London 1804 hallmark
	GW George Wintle, London 1819 hallmark

	GW Gervase Wheeler , Birmingham 1838 hallmark
	GW in script George Whiting , London 1859 hallmark
	GW into a rectangle George Wish (possibly), Sheffield 1892 hallmark courtesy www.acsilver.co.uk
	G.W.H&Co G W Harvey & Co , Birmingham 1896 hallmark
	GWL&Co G W Lewis & Co , Birmingham 1945 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