sheffield silver hallmarks year letters sorted by

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For more on this strange arrangement see.

German Crown and Sun or Moon Marks These marks of the Half Moon and Imperial Crown, Halbmond und Reichskrone, on silver, or the Sun and Imperial Crown, Sonne und Reichskrone, on gold, are often seen on Swiss as well as German made watches.

The date letters began in 1773 with the letter E, and were varied irregularly each year until 1824, after which date they were arranged in alphabetical order.

United States [ ] In the early United States, no national assaying system was adopted, although the city of Baltimore did maintain its own assay office between 1814 and 1830.

My research has also been incorporated in the latest version of Bradbury's Book of Hallmarks, you can read about this at.

This was called the duty mark and a representation of the monarch's head was chosen as its symbol.

Watch cases made in America carry marks stamped by their makers that were not legally mandated or controlled until 1906 when the National Gold and Silver Stamping Act required an accurate purity mark.

Before that date gold cases were usually stamped with their carat fineness by the case maker, and silver was marked with its millesimal fineness, usually 800, or sometimes just "fine silver".

For more information please see separate section on The Duty Mark The burden of the American War of Independence on the UK governments' purse, lead Goldsmiths Hall to add a fifth hallmark in 1784 to confirm that a tax had been paid on each piece of silver made.