The basic system
Each UK assay office stamps a single letter on items it tests; the letter changes every year. To avoid confusion, the cycle skips J (and historically I, U/V and others), and at the end of each cycle the style, the font, the case, and the shape of the shield around the letter, changes. The combination of letter, font and shield shape, plus the town mark, identifies the exact year.
Why the date letter is read with the town mark
Different assay offices used different cycle starts and different fonts, so a lower-case "a" in a shaped shield with a Birmingham anchor refers to a different year than the same letter in London. There is no single nationwide chart that resolves the year from the letter alone. The letter, the office and the shield are read together, and 1999 onwards, the date is now usually shown numerically too.
How to use it in practice
- Identify the office. Find the anchor (Birmingham), leopard (London), castle (Edinburgh) or rose (Sheffield) punch. That is your town mark.
- Read the date letter. Look for a single letter in a shaped frame near the standard mark.
- Cross-reference an office-specific chart. The Goldsmiths’ Company publishes the official cycles; commercial silver guides reproduce them. Same letter in different cycles = different years.
- Confirm with the font. Where the office changed font between cycles, the font of the letter resolves which cycle the piece is from.
From 1999 onwards: optional date letter
From 1999 the date letter became optional and the millennium mark was introduced. Modern UK hallmarks usually show four marks (sponsor, standard, town, year) with a clearer numeric purity. If your piece is post-1999 and shows a full year stamp, you have the year directly. No chart needed.
When dating matters
For everyday scrap selling, the date letter does not change the offer, gold and silver are priced by carat and weight. Where the date letter earns its keep is on antique or named-maker pieces, where a specific year can confirm the silversmith and lift value comfortably above scrap. If your piece looks early or named, ask us to look at it as an antique before posting it in as scrap.
Common questions
Can I work out the year of my piece from just the date letter?
Not on its own. The same letter recurs in cycles. You need the town mark plus the font/shield to identify which cycle.
Where do I find the official UK date letter charts?
The Goldsmiths’ Company publishes the cycles for each assay office. Commercial silver guides reproduce them; a librarian can also help.
Does an old date letter mean my piece is worth more?
Not by itself. It identifies the year of assay. Combined with a named sponsor’s mark and a town mark, an early date can identify a maker whose work sells above scrap.