Why Birmingham, and why an anchor
Before 1773, jewellers in Birmingham who wanted their work hallmarked had to send pieces to Chester or to London. The journey was slow, expensive and risky. Matthew Boulton, the industrialist behind the Soho Manufactory, campaigned in Parliament for a local assay office to support what was already a fast-growing jewellery and silverware trade in the city. The Birmingham Assay Office was created by Act of Parliament in 1773, in the same year as Sheffield. Boulton’s pieces are still in museum collections today.
The story goes that the Birmingham and Sheffield petitioners met at the Crown and Anchor, an inn off the Strand in London, during the campaign for the Act, and the inn’s name supplied both marks: the anchor went to Birmingham, the crown to Sheffield. The Sheffield Assay Office says the inn existed but nobody knows whether the story is true. Sheffield replaced its crown with the rose in 1975; Birmingham has kept the anchor.
Selling a piece with a Birmingham anchor?
If the piece is your own rather than a charity donation, send a photo of the whole piece and a close-up of the marks on WhatsApp first. We read the anchor, the purity number and the date letter, and tell you whether the piece looks worth more intact than for its metal. Nothing needs posting until you have our reply. If you do post it, each item is XRF-tested and you receive a dated written offer; you are paid by bank transfer only if you accept, and a declined parcel comes back free. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
GoldPaid serves customers in Birmingham by post using a prepaid Royal Mail label. You do not need to visit a shop. Selling gold in Birmingham by post covers the local questions. For what you have: selling gold jewellery, selling broken or scrap gold, and how selling gold by post works from anywhere in the UK.
No WhatsApp? Call 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm.
The anchor over time
Unlike London’s leopard, which lost its crown in 1822, the Birmingham anchor has been the same device since the office opened in 1773. Its outline and the shape of the shield around it have been redrawn over the years, so the anchor on its own rarely dates a piece.
A volunteer does not need to date a piece from the anchor alone. The date letter, read with the shape of its shield, fixes the year. The anchor is the office identifier; the rest of the marks are the metal, the year and the maker.
Why Birmingham anchors are so common on UK gold jewellery
The Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, roughly the square mile north-west of the city centre around Vyse Street and Warstone Lane, has been the heart of the British jewellery trade since the late 18th century. By 1914 the jewellery trade there employed more than 20,000 people across hundreds of small workshops: jewellers, casters, polishers, mounters, setters, engravers and chain-makers, often with several trades sharing a single terraced building. A large share of the gold wedding bands, signet rings, chains, lockets, charms and earrings sold in the UK in the 20th century were made in Birmingham, and therefore hallmarked with the Birmingham anchor.
In practice this means a 9ct gold chain in a UK jewellery box or donation pile is more likely to carry a Birmingham anchor than a London leopard, a Sheffield rose or an Edinburgh castle, wherever in the UK it turns up. It does not change the metal value of the piece. It is helpful context for anyone learning to recognise the four offices.
The maker’s mark next to the anchor
On most Birmingham-hallmarked pieces, the maker’s mark sits immediately to the left of, or directly above, the anchor. It is usually two or three initials inside a small shaped shield. The shape of the shield is part of the mark; a long rectangle with cut corners is one form, a small oval is another, a heart-shape with two initials is a third.
Some maker’s marks belong to small workshops that operated for only a few decades. Others belong to large Birmingham houses that have been registered for over a century. A charity shop volunteer is not expected to identify makers by sight. The practical step is simpler: photograph the maker’s mark together with the anchor, the fineness and the date letter, and send the image on WhatsApp 07944 014111. We will identify the maker if the mark is recorded.
The Birmingham date-letter cycle
Before 1975 Birmingham, like every UK assay office, ran its own date-letter cycle, and it was different from London’s. Until 1975 the Birmingham letter changed each July rather than at the start of the calendar year, so one Birmingham date letter spans parts of two years, and the office ran its own alphabet and shield shapes on its own timetable. This is why a single date letter cannot be read across offices; the letter has to be matched to the office that stamped it. From 1975 the four offices synchronised, and a post-1975 letter reads the same everywhere.
A volunteer is not expected to memorise the cycles. The practical workflow on the sorting table is the same as for any hallmark: identify the office (anchor for Birmingham), identify the fineness (375, 585, 750 or 916 for gold), photograph the marks, and let the postal-valuation team read the date letter from the image. The benefit of this approach is that it works on the first piece a new volunteer ever sees, with no training overhead.
How the marks read together on a Birmingham piece
A Birmingham-assayed gold ring carries the same marks as any other UK hallmark: three compulsory marks, often with a date letter and a crown beside them.
- Maker’s mark. Initials in a shield, usually first.
- Fineness number. 375 (9ct), 585 (14ct), 750 (18ct) or 916 (22ct), inside a rectangle with its corners cut off. 990 and 999 are also legal gold standards.
- Anchor. The Birmingham office identifier.
- Date letter. A single letter in a shield, telling you the year of assay. Optional since 1999.
Sometimes the marks are stamped in a straight line, sometimes in a curve along the inside of a ring band, sometimes in two pairs. The order can shift slightly, but the marks are the same. If a volunteer can find one of them, the others are usually within a few millimetres.
Common Birmingham-hallmarked items in donation piles
The kinds of items a charity shop will see most often with a Birmingham anchor:
- 9ct gold wedding bands. A common Birmingham-hallmarked piece in UK jewellery boxes and donations. A plain band typically weighs 2 g to 6 g; at 9ct fineness a 4 g band holds 1.5 g of pure gold, which is why a small bag of bands adds up faster than volunteers expect.
- Gold signet rings. Often 9ct, sometimes 18ct, frequently engraved with a monogram.
- Curb-link and rope chains. Mass-produced by the kilometre in the Jewellery Quarter from the 1950s onwards. A 20-inch 9ct curb chain can weigh anything from 8 g to over 50 g depending on link gauge, so weight matters far more than length.
- Charm bracelets and individual charms. Many UK charms of the 1960s to the 1980s were made and hallmarked in Birmingham.
- Lockets, brooches and small pendants. Especially Edwardian and inter-war pieces.
- Silver tankards, christening sets and trophies. Birmingham silverware is widely represented in 20th-century donation streams.
- Vesta cases, cigarette cases and snuff boxes. Birmingham was the national centre of small-box silver, and these pocket pieces surface in donation piles and clearances alike. See selling antique silver smalls for how they are identified and valued.
When the anchor is the only legible mark
On a worn ring, the maker’s mark is often the first thing to wear off, followed by the date letter. The anchor and the fineness are usually the last marks to disappear. If a volunteer can see the anchor and a fineness number on a piece, that is enough to bag it for postal valuation.
If the fineness is gone but the anchor is still legible, the piece is still worth bagging. XRF testing on arrival will read the actual composition of the metal, and the anchor confirms that the piece was at one point hallmarked by Birmingham. The hallmark guides the sorting; the XRF sets the offer.
What happens once a Birmingham-hallmarked piece is set aside
The shop manager or head-office contact sends a clear photo on WhatsApp or phone 07944 014111. We give a rough estimate on the day and send a free Royal Mail Special Delivery prepaid label, usually within 30 minutes during working hours. Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. Above that we split the consignment across more than one prepaid label at no charge. The shop posts the parcel at any Post Office counter and keeps the receipt.
The parcel is signed for on arrival and opened at our Bristol office, where each item is weighed and XRF-tested for purity, then priced under GoldPaid’s separate charity terms against the live precious-metal market on the day of valuation. A written itemised offer goes back to the charity’s head-office contact. If the charity accepts, we aim to send payment to its registered bank account by Faster Payments within one working hour of acceptance. Indicative figures move with the market; the firm offer is set only after the piece is inspected. If declined, every item is returned, free, tracked and signed for. How XRF testing works is explained separately for anyone who wants the detail.
A 60-second briefing for a volunteer
If a new volunteer is joining the sorting table, this is the briefing that gets them useful on Birmingham-hallmarked pieces in a minute.
- 1. Look for an anchor. A small anchor in a shield, upright or lying on its side. This is the Birmingham office mark.
- 2. Find the fineness. 375, 585, 750 or 916 on gold; 925 or a lion passant on silver.
- 3. Note the maker’s mark. Two or three initials in a shield, usually next to the anchor.
- 4. Bag and tag. Set the piece aside in the gold or silver bag. Do not put it on the shop floor.
- 5. Photo before posting. A clear close-up on WhatsApp 07944 014111 for an indicative read.
Sources
- The Goldsmiths’ Company: the history of hallmarking, checked 11 September 2026
- Sheffield Assay Office: a detailed history, checked 11 September 2026
- Assay Offices of Great Britain: hallmarking guidance notes (PDF), checked 11 September 2026
- Business Companion (Trading Standards): hallmarking, checked 11 September 2026
Common questions
What does the anchor on a UK hallmark mean?
It is the assay-office mark for Birmingham. It confirms that the piece was tested and stamped by the Birmingham Assay Office, founded in 1773. It does not on its own tell you the metal or the date.
Why are Birmingham anchors so common on UK gold jewellery?
The Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham has been the centre of the British jewellery trade for over two centuries. A very large share of 20th-century UK gold wedding bands, chains, signet rings and charms were made there, and therefore hallmarked with the Birmingham anchor.
Is a Birmingham hallmark worth less than a London hallmark?
No. The metal value is the same regardless of which office stamped the piece. Some Birmingham makers carry an antique or designer premium, but the office of assay does not change the underlying metal value.
The anchor is clear but the maker’s mark is worn. Is the piece still worth posting?
Yes. If the anchor and the fineness number are legible, the piece can be valued. The maker premium, if any, is on top of the metal figure, but the metal figure alone is the baseline.
How do I tell a Birmingham anchor from a different anchor mark?
The Birmingham anchor sits in a shield beside a sponsor’s mark and a fineness number, often with a date letter. Anchors on non-British pieces usually belong to a different mark system. Send a clear photo on WhatsApp 07944 014111 if uncertain.
What if the piece looks like a Birmingham hallmark but the marks are tiny?
Small hallmarks on rings, earring posts and chain clasps are normal. A magnifying glass and good light help. Photograph the piece against a plain background and we will read the marks from the image.
What if we change our mind once we see the written offer?
Free tracked return of any item the charity chooses not to sell. No fees, no pressure, no part-accept clauses.
When was the Birmingham anchor first used?
In 1773, after the Plate Assay Act established Birmingham and Sheffield assay offices in the same statute. Any Birmingham-anchor hallmark your team sees in a donation pile is therefore from that year onwards.
Why an anchor for an inland city?
Tradition says the two office marks were agreed at the Crown and Anchor tavern in London during the parliamentary lobbying for the 1773 Act, and the two towns drew lots: Birmingham got the anchor, Sheffield got the crown (later the rose).
Is the anchor only used on silver?
No. Birmingham stamps the same anchor on gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Charity shops see it most often on 9ct, 18ct and 22ct gold jewellery because of the Jewellery Quarter output.
Does an anchor mean the piece was Birmingham-made?
It means it was assayed in Birmingham. Most Birmingham-assayed pieces were also made by a Birmingham sponsor, but any UK or overseas sponsor can register with the Birmingham office, so the anchor is strictly an assay location, not a maker guarantee.
Can a Birmingham hallmark be faked?
Counterfeit hallmarks exist for every prestigious mark. XRF testing on arrival is the modern check: it reads the metal regardless of what the stamp claims, and the written offer is built on what the test finds.
Not the question you had? The full GoldPaid FAQ covers the rest, from postal cover and ID checks to what happens if you decline the offer.
Speak to us before you post
Please send us photos on WhatsApp, and we will help you. We give a rough estimate where possible and arrange postage with you after our conversation. Your final offer follows inspection.