UK Silver Date Letter Helper

UK silver date letters are the single stamped letter that records the assay year. Font and shield shape change every cycle, so the same letter can mean different years at London, Birmingham, Sheffield or Edinburgh. Use the helper below to narrow the range, then confirm against the full hallmark set.

Assay office

LondonLeopard’s head BirminghamAnchor SheffieldCrown, later a rose EdinburghThree-towered castle

Dublin uses the Irish Hibernia mark and its own letters. Glasgow’s office closed in 1964. Neither is in this table. Chester closed in 1962. For those, use the UK hallmarks guide and the chart.

Date letter

Capitals and small letters belong to different cycles. Type the letter on the punch, or use the keys. J, and sometimes I or U, was left out so one letter would not be read as another.

Letter on the punch

Capitals

Small letters

Browse one cycle

Cycle Choose an office first

Choose an office and a letter. The same letter comes back every cycle, so more than one year is normal.

This is a compact table for the four current UK offices, from the late 18th century through the shared letters that started in 1975. Date letters repeat. The font, the case and the shield change with each cycle, and those details separate one year from another. Early Sheffield letters are not in alphabetical order. A few punches, such as Old English I, are easy to misread. Nothing here dates a piece to a day. From 1999 the date letter is optional. Confirm the full set on the chart: town mark, standard mark, date letter and maker.

London rows start with 1796, Edinburgh with 1780. Earlier cycles are on the chart. The 2025 cycle lists only 2025 and 2026.

• UK hallmarks
• Hallmarks chart
• Identify a mark
• Hallmarks identifier
• Melt value calculator, for solid silver only

We make Antiqly. If the letter is worn or the shield is unclear, a photo scan can suggest likely matches; a single scan costs $3.99 on the App Store and on Google Play.

How to use this helper

• Identify the assay office first (leopard head for London, anchor for Birmingham, crown for Sheffield, castle for Edinburgh).
• Note the letter’s case and the shield outline; both matter more than the letter alone.
• Treat the result as a year range until the standard mark and maker’s mark agree.

Related references

Read the full UK hallmarks guide, compare symbols on the silver hallmarks chart, or walk a mark step by step on identify silver hallmarks. For a photo-first pass see the antique silver hallmarks identifier. After you know the fineness, check scrap numbers with the silver melt value calculator.

Common questions

Why can the same letter mean two different years?

Each office runs letter cycles of roughly twenty years and then restarts with a new typeface and shield. Without the cycle cues, letter A alone is ambiguous.

Do American or continental pieces use UK date letters?

No. Date letters in this form are a British (and Irish) assay convention. US sterling and most European marks date pieces another way.