What do the silver marks and hallmarks on your piece mean?
By Ellen Whitlock ·
Look for a purity stamp first: STERLING or 925 means 925 parts pure silver per 1,000. British pieces add a walking lion, town mark and date letter. Older American COIN marks mean about 900 fine. The mark tells you metal and maker, not the price.
How do you read the marks on silver?
Read the marks in a fixed order, because the purity stamp settles metal versus plate before anything else does. Match what you see to the table, then work through the steps.
| Mark | Years |
|---|---|
| COIN or PURE COIN · AmericanEarly American silver, about 900 fine, a step below sterling | to 1870 |
| Leopard's head, crowned · LondonLondon's mark, struck with a crown until 1821 | 1300–1821 |
| Edinburgh castleThe three-towered castle, Edinburgh's mark | 1485 on |
| Lion passant · walking lionWalks left, paw raised; the English sterling mark | 1544 on |
| Britannia standardA higher standard, at least 958.4 parts per 1,000, with a lion's head erased and Britannia | 1697 on |
| Anchor and crown · Birmingham, SheffieldBirmingham's anchor and Sheffield's crown, which became the Yorkshire rose in 1975 | 1773 on |
| Sovereign's head · duty markThe reigning monarch's head, showing the duty was paid | 1784–1890 |
| Leopard's head, uncrowned · LondonLondon's mark after the crown was dropped in 1821 | 1821 on |
| EPNS · plateA nickel-silver base with a thin silver coating; the base has no silver | 1840 on |
| Tiffany & Co. · maker's nameThe maker's name; its silversmith John C. Moore worked to English sterling | 1851 on |
| STERLING or 925 · AmericanNames the metal only, not the maker or the year | 1868 on |
| Gorham · lion, anchor and GThe firm's own trademark; a letter from A to Q gave the year | 1868–1884 |
| Gorham · year symbolsA different symbol each year in place of a letter | 1885–1933 |
| Crescent moon, crown and 800 · GermanCertifies 800 parts silver per 1,000, with no date letter | 1888 on |
| .925 and .9584 · import marksSilver imported into Britain, with different town marks from traditional hallmarks | 1906 on |
| Eagle · MexicanThe number inside the eagle names the silversmith or workshop | 1948–1979 |
| Date letter · BritishOne letter per year, but each assay office ran its own sequence | |
| A1, AA or Sheffield PlateA thin silver coating over base metal, with no scrap value |
No mark doesn't automatically mean plate, because no US law requires silver to carry a quality mark.
Reading the marks on your silver
- Purity stamp. Look for STERLING, COIN or a number first. It separates silver from plate.
- Walking lion and town mark. A lion walking left means sterling on English silver. The town mark names the assay office: a leopard's head for London, an anchor for Birmingham, a crown for Sheffield.
- Date letter. The Silver Society says each assay office ran its own letter sequence, so you need the office before the letter means anything.
- Maker. A British sponsor's mark names whoever submitted the piece. On American silver the maker's name or trademark sits beside the purity stamp, and US law requires a registered trademark to accompany any quality mark.
- Worn or missing marks. On flatware they often sit where the handle meets the tines or bowl. On hollow pieces, check the underside of the foot.
What makes one piece of silver worth more than another?
- Maker and pattern
- Busby Antiques says Tiffany, Georg Jensen and Gorham command the strongest premiums, and a sought-after pattern beats an obscure one. At Bonhams Skinner, a Tiffany 'Renaissance' service of about 197.8 troy ounces closed at $8,320 in 2024, and a Reed & Barton service of about 190.1 closed at $4,160 in 2023. Read that as the size of the maker gap, not today's price.
- Silver weight
- Sterling has a melt floor: its weight, times 92.5% silver, times the day's silver price. At $61.19 per troy ounce on September 30, 2026, a Tiffany 'English King' lot of about 87.9 troy ounces holds roughly $5,000 of silver, though it closed at $2,560 in 2023. Heavier gauge and more pieces raise the floor.
- Solid or plate
- Plated pieces have no scrap floor, because Specialty Metals Smelters & Refiners says refiners do not accept plated cutlery.
- Completeness
- A matched service with its serving pieces is worth far more than odd pieces from the same pattern. A Tiffany Chrysanthemum service for 12 with serving pieces is listed at $15,000 to $30,000 by two price guides.
- Monograms and wear
- Monograms cut collector value but not melt value, and bright, undamaged pieces beat worn ones. Monogrammed pieces bring 10% to 30% less than plain ones in collector sales. Where a monogram was removed, the metal there may be thin.
Is it sterling or silver plate?
Plate is the usual look-alike. EPNS means electroplated nickel silver, and its base has no silver in it. Signs to check:
- EPNS, A1, AA or Sheffield Plate where a purity stamp should be
- Alpacca or Neusilber alone, which contain no silver despite the name
- Crescent moon, crown and 800 on a German piece, which is real silver, not plate
If plate is what you have, what silver plate is worth covers when it still has value.
What are silver hallmarks, and who stamps them?
A true hallmark is the guarantee of an independent body, not just a maker's brand. British marks are struck by an assay office, so the town mark and date letter are checked facts. The United States never had a mandatory national system, so American marks are the maker's own, and the year has to come from that maker's code, such as Gorham's. Mexico's numbered eagle names a workshop rather than a year, and German silver carries a national mark with no date letter.
Common silver mark questions
What does 925 mean on silver?
It is the sterling standard written as a number, and it speaks to the metal only, not the maker or the year. Many pieces carry the word STERLING as well.
Is unmarked silver fake?
Not necessarily. Early American coin silver carried COIN instead of the word sterling. To test an unmarked piece, see how to tell if silver is real.
What does the lion stamp mean on silver?
It depends on the country. On English silver the walking lion is the sterling mark; on Gorham's American pieces, the lion, anchor and G is the firm's own trademark, and the lion only echoes the English hallmark.
Is 800 silver real silver?
Yes. It is a lower grade than sterling, and often undervalued because buyers assume 800 is second-rate.
How can I tell sterling from silver plate by the marks?
Sterling carries a purity stamp or, on British pieces, the walking lion, while plate carries words like EPNS, A1 or AA. A plated piece has no scrap value, so check before you take it to a refiner.