Date letter (hallmark)
A letter in a British hallmark that shows the year the piece was marked.
How to read it
The UK’s Hallmarking Act makes the date letter optional today: a letter of the alphabet, changed each year, to denote the year in which the article is marked. Chaffers dates the date letter at the London Assay Office to 1478; each alphabet ran from A to U or V, leaving out J, W, X, Y and Z.
Also searched as: hallmark date letter, year letter.
A stamp is a claim about the metal, made by whoever struck it. This page says what each mark means under the rules that define it; it doesn’t test or value anything.
Reading the year
The same letter comes round again in a later alphabet, told apart by the style of the letter and the shape of its shield. Chaffers notes that particular care was taken with those shields in his tables.
More jewellery marks
Sources
- Hallmarking Act 1973, Schedule 2: Approved Hallmarks, Hallmarking Act 1973 (c. 43), Sch. 2, legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives), Sch. 2, Pt. I, para. 4
- Hall Marks on Gold & Silver Plate (Chaffers, 1922), William Chaffers, Hall Marks on Gold & Silver Plate, 1922 edition, Internet Archive (scan), III. Date mark
Last reviewed September 27, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research