By Rocco Clayfield, trading as GoldPaid; the business incorporated as GOLDPAID LTD (company 17382540) on 5 August 2026 · Published · updated
Found a stamp on your piece? Send us a photo of it
Photograph the number stamped inside the ring or on the clasp, then the whole piece, and send both on WhatsApp. We will reply with what the mark means and a rough estimate of what we would pay. No obligation, and nothing needs posting.
No WhatsApp? Call 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm.
Not sure what the mark says? Use the hallmark lookup. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
A short history of the mark
In 1300 a statute of Edward I required silver to be marked with the leopard’s head, called the king’s mark in early statutes. The earliest pieces show a striking, slightly snarling head facing forward. Through the 14th and 15th centuries the mark stayed forward-facing. It picked up a crown in 1478, the year the date letter was introduced, and lost it in the early 1820s. The Goldsmiths’ Company history of hallmarking gives 1822 and says the change was made without public announcement; other references give 1821.
Since the early 1820s the leopard has been uncrowned. Between 1697 and 1720, when the higher Britannia standard was compulsory, the leopard’s head was replaced by a lion’s head erased and the figure of Britannia. To read a leopard’s head on a piece in front of you, the London leopard’s head hallmark guide covers the variants and the marks beside them.
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
The Goldsmiths' Company is one of the twelve great livery companies of the City of London. The permanent assay office at Goldsmiths’ Hall in Foster Lane dates from 1478. Today the office is a working laboratory: pieces submitted for assay are tested by XRF, fire assay or cupellation, then punched by hand or by laser if specified, then returned to the sponsor.
A London-assayed piece tells you the metal passed through that lab.
Reading the modern London hallmark
- Find the cluster of punches on the inside of the ring shank, the clasp of the chain, or the back of the pendant.
- Identify the three-digit standard mark first. It anchors the rest.
- Look for the leopard. It is small, in profile or facing forward, inside a shield. On worn pieces, look for the distinctive ear and crown line.
- Read the date letter if present. London uses a Roman or italic letter inside a shield that changes shape every 25 years on the current cycle. Since 1975 that letter has been shared with the other three offices, so it can be read straight off the table in hallmark date letters explained.
- Read the sponsor mark last, usually two or three letters in a rectangular punch.
Crowned versus uncrowned
The simplest dating cue: a leopard with a crown was struck before the early 1820s. Without the crown it is from the 1820s or later. Within those eras the head shape, the style of the cartouche, and the date letter narrow the year down further. A 15th-century forward-facing leopard is unmistakable next to a Victorian profile leopard, even on a tiny ring.
Where to look on common pieces
On rings, inside the shank at the bottom. On chains, on the bolt-ring or hidden tag. On pocket watches, inside the case-back, usually grouped with the case maker’s sponsor mark. On Edwardian and Georgian boxes, on the lip of the lid where it meets the body. On older flatware, on the back of the stem near the bowl.
What it means for postal valuation
A London hallmark gives a buyer two pieces of information at once: the metal was independently assayed by a major UK office, and the maker (sponsor) is a registered entity. The XRF test on arrival confirms the alloy still matches the standard. The offer is paid on the test result. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Your parcel travels on Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, tracked and signed for. Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. If the lot may be worth more than £2,500, tell us first and we can split it across more than one prepaid label at no charge. The method is set out on the sell gold by post page.
Seven hundred years of one punch
The leopard’s head has been continuously punched onto British gold and silver for over 700 years. On any tray of jewellery from antique to modern, it is the mark you are most likely to find. Knowing how to read it turns an unfamiliar inheritance into a piece you can value with confidence.