Castle (Edinburgh hallmark)
The mark of the Edinburgh assay office: the piece was tested and hallmarked in Edinburgh.
How to read it
The UK’s Hallmarking Act lists a castle as the mark of the Edinburgh assay office. Edinburgh also marks sterling silver differently: where the other offices strike a lion passant, the Act has Edinburgh strike a lion rampant. Chaffers’s list of the marks required in Scotland in his day includes the castle as the mark of the assay town.
Also searched as: castle hallmark, Edinburgh assay office mark.
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.
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, paras. 1 and 3
- Hall Marks on Gold & Silver Plate (Chaffers, 1922), William Chaffers, Hall Marks on Gold & Silver Plate, 1922 edition, Internet Archive (scan), Marks required in Scotland
Last reviewed September 27, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research