Identification help, not an appraisal. These tools help you decode marks and decide whether to dig deeper — they never estimate a value or price. For an actual valuation, snap a photo in the app or consult a qualified appraiser.
A small stamp can tell you a lot — whether silver is solid or plated, which city assayed it, which factory made a piece of porcelain, and roughly when. Search a symbol or keyword to decode it.
28 marks
English sterling-silver standard (.925).
What it tells you: Confirms solid sterling silver of English origin — look for a town mark and date letter alongside it.
Britannia silver standard (.958), higher purity than sterling.
What it tells you: Used 1697–1720 by law, optional after. A seated Britannia figure points to higher-purity English silver.
Edinburgh sterling standard mark (Scottish silver).
What it tells you: Scottish sterling — usually paired with the Edinburgh castle town mark.
Glasgow sterling standard mark.
What it tells you: Scottish (Glasgow) sterling silver standard mark.
Dublin (Irish) sterling standard.
What it tells you: Irish sterling silver, assayed in Dublin; often with a Hibernia figure (duty mark).
Sterling silver, expressed as a millesimal fineness.
What it tells you: Common on modern and international sterling. A number stamp rather than a pictorial standard mark.
Continental European silver standards, below sterling fineness.
What it tells you: Typical of German, Italian, and other European silver — solid silver but lower purity than .925.
American coin silver (roughly .900).
What it tells you: Points to American silver, generally pre-1860s before 'STERLING' became standard in the US.
Solid sterling silver, word-marked.
What it tells you: Common on American and 20th-century silver. The word (not a pictorial mark) is itself the standard indicator.
London assay office town mark.
What it tells you: Assayed in London. Crowned before 1821, uncrowned after.
Birmingham assay office town mark (on silver).
What it tells you: Silver assayed in Birmingham (from 1773). On porcelain, an anchor instead suggests Chelsea — see pottery marks.
Sheffield assay office town mark.
What it tells you: Sheffield used a crown for silver historically, switching to the Yorkshire rose. Sheffield is also the home of 'Sheffield plate'.
Edinburgh assay office town mark.
What it tells you: Edinburgh-assayed silver, usually with the thistle standard mark.
Chester assay office town mark.
What it tells you: Chester assay office (closed 1962) — its presence helps date and place a piece.
Electro-Plated Nickel Silver — NOT solid silver.
What it tells you: A thin silver layer over a nickel base. Contains no sterling-level silver; valued as plate, not bullion.
Electroplate / Electroplated Britannia Metal; 'A1' is a plate quality grade.
What it tells you: All indicate plated ware, not solid silver. 'A1' marks a better grade of plate.
Fused silver-on-copper plate (c. 1740s–1840s), pre-electroplating.
What it tells you: Worn high points may show copper 'bleeding' through — a tell of genuine Old Sheffield Plate rather than modern electroplate.
Meissen (Germany) porcelain mark.
What it tells you: Underglaze-blue crossed swords indicate Meissen; many factories imitated it, so cross-check quality and form.
Sèvres (France) porcelain mark.
What it tells you: A date letter inside the interlaced L's can indicate the year; widely reproduced, so verify.
Capodimonte / Naples-style porcelain mark.
What it tells you: Indicates Capodimonte tradition; used by many later makers, so it signals style more than a single factory.
Royal Vienna (and imitators) porcelain mark.
What it tells you: An underglaze shield that looks like a beehive when inverted; heavily copied in the 19th century.
Country-of-origin mark required on goods imported to the US.
What it tells you: A bare country name (e.g. 'England') generally means after 1891 (US McKinley Tariff Act).
Country-of-origin phrase.
What it tells you: 'Made in …' generally indicates the 20th century (roughly post-1914/1921), later than a bare country name.
A 20th-century body/marketing term.
What it tells you: The printed words 'Bone China' generally point to the 20th century or later.
British design-registration lozenge, 1842–1883.
What it tells you: The diamond's corner letters/numbers encode the exact registration date — a precise dating tool for this 41-year window.
British registered-design number, 1884 onward.
What it tells you: Replaced the diamond in 1884; the number maps to a registration year, helping date later British pieces.
Indicates an incorporated company.
What it tells you: 'Ltd' generally means after 1861, and is common from the 1880s onward — a rough earliest-date clue.
References a patent or pending application.
What it tells you: A patent number can often be looked up to a filing year, giving an earliest-possible date.
For a deeper read, see the marks & signatures guide. This lookup identifies marks — it never estimates value.
Valued reads the mark from a photo, identifies the piece, and estimates its market value.
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