British Silver Hallmarks

This period includes the final years of the reign of William III (1695-1702) and that of Queen Anne (1702-1714) and part of the reign of George I (1714-1727).

Sir Thomas Gresham recommended that the coinage be restored to the sterling standard in 1560. This was for a matter of convenience to allow the mint to convert silver into coins without having to refine or alloy the metal to another standard. This was kept in place until the 1920 Coinage Act.

The down side of this being that silversmiths could melt down coinage to use in their work. Manufacturing silversmiths had difficulty in supplying the quantity of silver being requested and the practice of coin clipping and wholesale melting down of coin gave rise to a lack of confidence in the coinage in circulation.

To combat this a law was enacted to increase the pure silver content in wrought plate to 958 parts fine per thousand, up from 925. Any work produced after 25 March 1697 had to be of the new standard. To denote this the marks were changed.

The makers mark became the first two letters of the surname, the Britannia mark replaced the Lion Passant (Sterling mark) and the Lions Head Erased replaced the Leopard's Head.

Assay offices were established in York, Exeter, Bristol, Chester and Norwich. Newcastle upon Tyne had regularly operated an assay office since 1658 and they petitioned for their own office and this led to the statutory establishment of their office in 1702.

The Britannia standard did not apply to the Irish assay offices or those of Scotland.

Three styles of work were used at this time, William and Mary, Queen Anne and Louis XIV. The William and Mary style gradually diminished from the turn of the century. Domestic plate was mainly in the Queen Anne style, 1705 - 1720 being the best of the period.

A strong Huguenot influence is evident from the beginning of the 1700's and local goldsmiths felt under threat. 

Large standing cups are less common in this era, the introduction of hot drinks is thought to have influenced this trend. 

Two handled cups and covers, described as loving cups or grace cups are found. The body is taller, curving round less sharply at the base and often supported on a shallow stem. The cover usually has a pronounced dome and the handles are solid. 

Tankards increased in height and the handles became more graceful. The cover is often a flatish top, some were made without covers. The capacity of most tankards is two or three pints and are about six to eight inches tall. Some very large ones were made to hold one gallon.

Monteiths and punch bowls are still popular and vary in size and decoration. Most punch bowls being quite plain.

Tea pots and kettles became much more common, the London ones being either pear shaped or globular. Some are circular and others polygonal. Wooden handles are the norm usually opposed to the spout though some are at right angles. Coffee and chocolate pots remain popular.

Tea caddies or canisters become taller and thinner. Often made in sets of two or three to contain different teas.

Ewers, from about eight to fifteen inches in height, both plain and more ornamental are found.

Candle sticks and taper sticks and wall sconces are to be found.

Inkstand design became a tray fitted for three pots, the inkpot, pounce box and wafer box, with a trough at the front for pens. Occasionally there may be a drawer beneath the tray.

Spoons are common in three sizes, table, dessert and tea spoon. You may also find marrow scoops or spoons and spoons with perforated bowls.