UK silver hallmarks, decoded

A walking lion in profile (the lion passant) is the UK standard mark for sterling silver, 925 parts per thousand.

Sterling shows a lion passant. Britannia silver shows a seated figure of Britannia and is 958 parts per thousand. Imports tested by a UK office show numeric .925 or .958.

Items over the legal weight threshold submitted for assay must have them. Older and very small items can lack a full hallmark, in which case an XRF assay confirms the standard.

It is strong evidence at the point of manufacture, but the assay is the proof. We XRF-assay every parcel to confirm what is actually in the piece today.

The standard mark is the punch that states the metal and its purity. On British silver a lion passant, a walking lion in profile, means sterling at 925 parts per thousand, and a seated figure of Britannia means 958.4. Since 1999 the compulsory form is a millesimal number, such as 925 inside an oval shield. A UK assay office can mark silver at only four standards under the Hallmarking Act 1973, 800, 925, 958.4 and 999, so any other number on a piece is a foreign or maker’s mark, not a British standard mark; the traditional lion is now optional and sits beside the number when used.

No. A bare 925 stamp is a manufacturer’s claim, not a hallmark. A genuine UK hallmark has at least three punches struck by an assay office after testing: a sponsor’s mark, a millesimal fineness mark and the office’s town mark. A stamp alone tells you what the maker says, not what anyone has verified. Most 925-stamped jewellery is what it claims to be, but plated and fake pieces carry the same stamp, which is why every parcel here is XRF-assayed whatever is stamped on it. Under the Hallmarking Act 1973 a UK trader cannot describe an unhallmarked item of 7.78 g or more as silver when selling it.

Silver items weighing 7.78 grams or more must carry a recognised hallmark before a UK trader can describe them as silver. Below 7.78 g hallmarking is optional, which is why many earrings, small charms and light chains are legitimately unhallmarked. The equivalent thresholds are 1 g for gold and palladium and 0.5 g for platinum. The exemptions are set out in Schedule 1 of the Hallmarking Act 1973 and bind traders, not private owners, so there is nothing suspect about an unhallmarked family piece; it is simply confirmed by XRF assay before any offer is made. Our UK hallmarking page sets all four exemption weights out side by side, alongside the statutory dealer’s notice.

A lion rampant, rearing upright on its hind legs, is the Scottish standard mark for sterling silver, 925 parts per thousand. Edinburgh has struck it since 1975, when it replaced the thistle used there from 1759, and it also appears on Glasgow silver assayed before that office closed in 1964. It means exactly the same purity as the English lion passant. Glasgow-marked pieces, identified by the tree, bird, bell and fish town mark, have a collector following, so if yours carries one it is worth asking an auction house about antique value as well as getting a scrap figure from us.

You need three things together: the letter itself, the style of shield and script around it, and the town mark, because each assay office ran its own alphabet cycles and the same letter repeats every couple of decades in a different font and shield. A date letter on its own cannot date a piece. Match all three against the UK date letter chart. The date letter has been voluntary since 1999, so a modern piece without one is entirely normal, and dating adds nothing to a scrap valuation; it matters only where age gives the piece antique value.

A monarch’s head in the hallmark row is a duty mark: it shows the tax on silver collected between 1784 and 1890 was paid when the piece was assayed. Its presence alone dates the piece to that window, and the profile, George III, George IV, William IV or Victoria, narrows it further. Do not confuse it with modern commemorative heads: assay offices have struck voluntary jubilee and coronation marks on new pieces, most recently in 2022. A duty mark makes a piece at least around 135 years old, which is exactly the sort of item to have checked for antique value before selling it as scrap.

Yes. The Hallmarking Act 1973 still applies. Silver of 7.78 grams or more must be hallmarked before a UK trader can sell it described as silver, and the modern compulsory hallmark is three marks, sponsor, millesimal fineness and assay office, struck by one of the four remaining offices: London, Birmingham, Sheffield or Edinburgh. The UK also recognises Convention hallmarks struck abroad under the International Convention on Hallmarks, so a legitimate new piece may show a common control mark instead of a British town mark. The rules bind traders; a private individual selling their own unhallmarked jewellery commits no offence.

No. Silver plate is never given a UK hallmark, because the body of the piece is base metal. What plate often carries instead is a row of small stamps laid out to look like a hallmark, known as pseudo-hallmarks, alongside letters such as EPNS, EP or A1. The reliable check is the standard mark: no lion passant, no Britannia and no 925 in an oval means no British silver assay. Plated pieces have no meaningful melt value, so we will say so from your photo rather than have you pay postage; a charity shop or costume-jewellery dealer is the better home for them.

Yes. Unhallmarked silver can be sold and we buy it; the hallmarking rules restrict how traders describe items they sell, not whether you may sell yours. The piece is XRF-assayed on arrival, the written offer states the purity actually found, and if it turns out to be plate we say so and return it free. An unhallmarked piece cannot be judged from a photo with the same confidence as a marked one, so any indicative figure before assay carries a wider range. Continental 800 and 830 silver often has no British hallmark and is still perfectly sellable at its lower fineness.