Why is silver marked?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 |  Printer Friendly
Did you know - silver marks on antiques were marked primarily for Taxation or Duty Collection reasons. Silver is a “precious metal” and was heavily regulated until as recent as 2003.
Silver could relatively readily be converted into negotiable or liquid currency, and also has been used as for bargaining or bartering. Around the 1860’s, many countries, including the US, changed the content of “pure silver.” American Silver antiques made around the 1860s – 1900s are termed “Coin Silver” to indicate that the silver content of such items was the same as that of actual currency coins produced by the US National Mint.
In order to identify silver and other precious metals, silver antiques were marked with many marks, most of which are Duty marks. Some marks represent the maker or artist. England, and Europe required Assay Marks, which really represented purity or Silver Content, and often also included the Town or City mark (London, Birmingham, Sheffield etc in the UK or Dijon, Paris, Montpellier etc in France), and occasionally, it was stamped by the Deacon or Head of the local Parish to attest as to the Purity of the silver content and to ensure that the proper Taxes or Levies were dully paid. These marks are known as Assay and City & Province marks. Other marks are the Date cipher used to identify the year of manufacture. Letters from A to Z, varying in font and size were used. (We now make use of Date Tables to reference these Date Ciphers).
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