The date letter is the most precise mark on a piece of British silver. Get it right and you know the year of assay. Get it wrong and you can be off by a century. Here is how the system works and how to look up any letter quickly.
What the date letter is
From 1478 onwards, every British assay office (London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Chester, Glasgow, Dublin and others) marked the year a piece was assayed using a single letter of the alphabet, in a specific font, inside a specific shield shape. The cycle restarted with a new font or shield every twenty to twenty-six years.
Why this matters
Two pieces marked with a Roman g in Birmingham could be 1881 or 1906 or 1931. The font and shield distinguish them. The price difference between a Georgian and a late-Victorian piece can be ten to one.
How to read a date letter
- Identify the assay office from the town mark next to the date letter: anchor (Birmingham), leopard's head (London), crown (Sheffield, pre-1975), rose (Sheffield, post-1975), castle (Edinburgh), three wheatsheaves (Chester), tree-fish-bell-ring (Glasgow), crowned harp (Dublin).
- Identify the letter . Note whether it is upper or lower case, Roman, Gothic, italic, or sans-serif.
- Identify the shield shape . Square, round, lobed, pointed, with cut corners, etc.
- Cross-reference against the published cycle for that office.
Cycle examples
- London uses 20-letter cycles (omitting J), so each letter recurs every 20 years.
- Birmingham uses 25-letter cycles (omitting J), starting in 1773.
- Sheffield uses 26-letter cycles starting in 1773, with some unusual letter ordering in early years.
- Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin each follow their own letter sequences.
The faster way
Memorising every cycle for every office is impractical. The Silver Marks app lets you tap an office, then a letter, and see every year that letter could represent. You can also work backwards: enter the year and see the letter and shield used. Both directions, all seven offices, offline.
Identify any mark in seconds. Silver Marks ships with the full 15,000-mark library and works fully offline. Download free on iPhone, iPad and Mac .