In 1976 or 1977 my mum gave me a silver dog tag on a silver chain. One face is free of any embellishment save the tiny scratches and marks picked up over the years that have given it a lovely, worn texture and appearance. The hole holding the silver link that the chain is threaded through is worn too -- stretched, as if the weight has been too much.

But the reverse holds the marks that indicate its quality, country, city, date, and maker's marks.

I sometimes wore the tag so that these marks were facing out, and sometimes hid them. I always meant to research their meaning and now, over thirty years later, finally got around to doing so. Here's what I found, and how it all became much more interesting a project than I thought I was taking on.

The practice of stamping marks onto silver to indicate its quality and source dates back to the Middle Ages in England, when the need to authenticate the value of metals was necessary for commerce. Indeed, the process is described as "one of the earliest forms of consumer protection" (Chaffer). Henry III came up with the idea, and in 1238 all gold and silver had to be tested and stamped as genuine at Assay Offices. The British Hallmarking Council was established in 1973 to oversee the various assay offices still in existence (although the grade of silver has been modified to conform to European Economic Union standards); indeed, the London Assay Office has been located on the same site in Foster Lane, in Goldsmiths' Hall, since the early 1300's.

Sterling Silver consists of 92.5% silver and 7.5% alloy -- in the past, usually copper, but more recently containing zinc, platinum, silicon, or boron. Pure silver is too soft to be serviceable, therefore the photograph above of the "fine" silver, containing over 95% of the metal, would presumably be used on special occasions only. 

The origins of the word "sterling" in reference to this guarantee of silver content are unclear, and theories range from a derivation from the word for a starling to the province of Easterling, in Germany. No matter the source, though, the word itself has been used to describe this alloy standard since the 12th century. The stamp that the Assay Office assigned to denote that a piece of silver is indeed sterling is a lion (see above).  This is the hallmark -- the assay office mark of standard.  Technically, none of the other marks are "hall" marks -- but stamps containing other information.

London did not have the only Assay Offices, of course, and marks were designed to indicate which city a particular piece was made in. A few of the major cities are illustrated to the right:

• the leopard's head -- either crowned or uncrowned -- from London;
  
• the crown from Sheffield;
  
• the three towers from Newcastle;
  
• the anchor from Birmingham.

For a great list of both country and city marks, visit here. Now you can identify where all your silver pieces come from.

Unfortunately, each city marks the year of manufacture with a different stamp. But I found the year for my dog tag, which was made in London in 1976.

Here are the London date marks around that time. The alphabet is used (minus "j," "u," "w," "x," "y," and "z"), one letter for each year, with the script of the letters being changed after every run-through, so that the letter "b" -- no matter the script -- indicates the following years:

1559, 1579, 1599; 1619, 1639, 1659, 1679;

thereafter, 1697; 1717, 1737, 1757, 1777, and so on -- right up until 1957;

thereafter, 1976 and 2001 (some of the missing letters were added, or commemoration marks were inserted to account for the discrepancies). But remember: these are just for London.

The last mark (although it is often the first one in the row) is the mark of the silversmith or company that produced the piece of sterling silver. These are usually the initials of the silversmith or company. I can't quite make out the one on my dog tag -- even with the help of a magnifying glass -- but by its shape, a lozenge, it could be one of several possibilities.

The top photo shows a piece that was manufactured in Providence, RI in the 1860's by the Gorham Company (the American marks are different again).