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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	I.W into a rectangle John Watson Plate Worker, Furnace Hill, Sheffield mark entered September 24, 1794. From July 15, 1797, for nine months, the King's Head was duplicated owing to the Duty being doubled. Note also different Town and Date marks Sheffield 1797 hallmark.
	I.W into a rectangle John Watson & Son, Burgest Street, Sheffield entered 1822 Sheffield 1852 hallmark
	I.W into a rectangle John Wakefield London 1822 hallmark

	IW John Walton, Newcastle 1813 hallmark
	IW in script John James Whiting London 1834 hallmark (entered 1833) London 1847 hallmark (entered 1847)
	IW in script John Whiting, entered 1855 London 1856 hallmark

	IW Joseph Wilson or John Wakefield London 1835 hallmark
	IW John Wright Newcastle 1843 hallmark

I.W over W.T under a fleur de lys John Wakelin & William Taylor London 1786 hallmark A business founded by John Wickes in 1722 and still active in present days ... MORE....

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