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

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	JG into a rectangle John Golding Plymouth Exeter 1844 hallmark
	JG John Gammage Birmingham 1850 hallmark

	J.G John Gilbert - John Gilbert & Co John Gilbert is listed in 1865 as a silversmith and electroplater at Ryland Street North, Birmingham and office at Ely Place, Holborn, London. In 1880 the firm was converted into a limited liability company under the style of John Gilbert & Co Ltd. London 1869 hallmark
	J.G Joseph Gloster Birmingham 1904 hallmark
	J.G Ltd into three circles J Gloster Ltd Birmingham 1963 hallmark

J.G &S John Grinsell & Sons Birmingham 1918 hallmark London 1897 hallmark Birmingham 1901 hallmark

	J.G.G into a shield John George Graves Division Street, Sheffield Chester 1903 hallmark
	JGM into an oblong rectangle John Gloagh Murdoch Birmingham 1887 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