Friday, July 30th, 2010

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European Hallmarks

European Hallmarks.

Unlike the British Hallmarking System the various countries in Europe developed quite different methods of marking Silver. On this page of the website I will catalogue those European marks on pieces of Silver I have offered for sale together with a picture of each mark.

I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information as it will be taken from a variety of reference books and other sources. I am no expert on these marks and buy European silver infrequently.

This catalogue was commenced in January 2009 and will grow over the coming months. If you click on the links your search my not return any items for sale. This is because our stock changes daily and I do not buy a lot of European Silver.

Austria - Hungary

 
Prior to 1867 there was a complicated hallmark system in place. the Loth was the fineness measure. 15 loths = .9375 14 loths = .875 13 loths = .8125 12 loths = .750.

From 1867 the silver fineness was indicated by a number beside the hallmark of the"Diana head": 1=950/1000 - 2=900/1000 - 3=800/1000 -4=750/1000

As well as the fineness from 1867 there was a town identification letter as follows.

A=Vienna - B=Lienz - C=Prague - D=Brno -E=Cracovia - F=Lwow - G=Graz - H-Hall - H=Bregenz (from 1872)- K=Klagenfurt - L=Lubiana - M=Trieste - N=Zadar - P=Pest - R=Kosice - T=Timisoara - U=Alba Julia - V=Zagreb

Head of Dianna hallmark showing the fineness number 3 depicting .800 and the Letter A depicting Vienna. ( this mark often get confused with the head of Minerva see France below)

Click here for more information on our Austria - Hungary Silver for Sale


France

 
 

 

France has a wide variety of marks. From the early 16th Century silver items made in Paris were stamped with crowned letters of the Silversmiths guild - La Maison Commune -who were responsible for maintaining the purity of silver. There then followed a complicated system of recording tax collected of charge and discharge marks. City Marks were established using letters (A for Paris). When the silver was first assayed it was given a charge mark,then once the tax was paid on the item it was stamped with a discharge mark.

Following the French Revolution this system was abandoned and State control over the silver standard re established in 1797.

Since May 1838 Silverware sold in France must bear the makers mark inside a lozenge shape and the hallmark (Head of Minerva or on small items the wild boars head or the crab mark)

Each Assay office has its own symbol.

There is also a complicated series of marks for export pieces.

Head of Minerva in the image above is displaying the number 1 denoting .950 finesness of silver.(top right of forehead)
Had the number been 2 it would denote a fineness of .800.
After 1973 a letter was added to the stamp to denote the decade of manufacture. A denotes 1973 - 1982 and so on.

Here is an example of the lozenge with the makers marks.

 
Here you see the two marks together as they appeared on the item of silver.
 
 
French marks are usually small,hard to find and often rubbed.

 


Germany

 

There has been a system for marking silver in Germany since the 15th Century. German silver submitted for assay was marked to indicate its maker and town.

Whilst town marks changed over the centuries only a few towns, Nuremberg,Konigsberg and Dresden had any date letter system. Prior to 1884 there was no consistent purity guarantee system for German silver.

The federal Act of 16th July 1884 which took effect from 1st January 1888 demanded that all slverware should bear the makers mark,the fineness figure and the German mark of a crown and moon on silver of a fineness of .800 or more.

Therefore since 1888 it has been much easier to identify German silver.

Here you see typical marks on post 1888 german Silver. The Crown and the moon denoting German Silver, the 800 denoting it finesness followed by its makers mark.