The Standard or Sterling Mark (Lion Passant)

The Assay Mark

It was a difficult task which could never be fully policed. However, in 1300 King Edward 1 grasped the nettle and made a law that no gold or silver could be sold until it had been taken to the Guild of Goldsmiths to be tested. If approved, the article would be impressed with a small mark to show that it had been tested and was of the correct quality. The image selected for what was initially known as ‘The King’s Mark’ was that of a lion’s head but it looked more like a leopard so soon became known as the Leopard’s Head mark.

In 1544 the Leopard’s Head mark was superseded by the Lion Passant mark in the form of a lion in full profile, as if walking to the left with its right front paw raised. This mark eventually became known as the Sterling Mark and is used on all sterling silver items today.

The Maker’s Mark

The next step in the regulation of the gold and silver manufacturing processes came in 1363 when King Edward III decided that every goldsmith or silversmith should have a personal ‘mark’ so every piece could be traced back to a specific manufacturer. Many early ‘makers marks’ took note of the fact that very few people at that time could read, so they were designed not as letters but as emblems which could be ‘translated’ into the relevant name. For example, John Rose would have an image of a flower, Tom Farmer would have a sheaf of corn etc. But over the years, as education standards improved, letters became more prevalent as an identifier of the manufacturer so that, for example, ‘CS’ is the current Conway Stewart identifier or maker’s mark.

With more and more silver and gold items being manufactured from the 15th century onwards, the testing processes (or assai meaning ‘examination’ in French) was being undertaken in several English cities. Bristol, Birmingham, Chester, Coventry, Exeter, Lincoln, London, Newcastle, Salisbury, Sheffield and York all had their own Assay offices at various times, enabling silversmiths to have their products tested locally.

Today, there are Assay Offices in London (represented by a Leopard Head mark), Birmingham (Anchor), Edinburgh (Castle) and Sheffield (Rose). The Birmingham Assay Office was opened in 1773 and today is one of the busiest Assay Offices in the world.

The majority of Conway Stewart components are assayed at the Birmingham Assay Office.

The Date Mark

The Date Mark was determined as a single alphabetic character for each calendar year with different fonts being used every 20 years or so. In retrospect it would have been much simpler if all Assay Offices had used the same letter and font each year but that wasn’t to be the case, so checking the original manufacturing date of any item of silver can be a lengthy process.

Since 1975, however, all hallmarking date marks have been consolidated, so that all Assay offices use the same date letter which changes on 1st January each year. The last few years have been as follows:

Commemorative marks

Occasionally, special marks may be added to the range of hallmarks found on items of silver or gold. In recent times there have been additional marks to commemorate The Queen’s Silver Jubilee (1977), the Millennium (2000), The Queen’s Golden Jubilee (2002), The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (2012) and this year The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. This latest mark may be stamped on any precious metal issued up to the end of 2022. Conway Stewart used this commemorative mark on their Limited Edition pen to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. All 70 of the Sterling Silver pens have been sold. At the time of writing this article we have 3 platinum editions remaining of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee collection.

Punishable by death

In 1757 counterfeiting hallmarks became a felony, punishable by death. This later changed to transportation to a penal colony. In England it is still a punishable offence (Hallmarking Act 1973) to offer for sale any article purporting to be made of a precious metal unless it bears the official hallmark stamp of one of the recognized Assay Offices. Today, the maximum penalty for counterfeiting a British Hallmark is 10 years imprisonment.

Your guarantee of quality and purity

So those little marks on your Conway Stewart pen and accessories have a lot of history, and give you the assurance that the precious metals used on our pens and accessories are genuine. British hallmarks are a guarantee of quality and purity that’s recognised and valued everywhere around the world.

We hope this has given you an insight into the history and development of British hallmarking and helped you understand what each of the hallmarks on your pens means.

Bespoke British Pens Ltd

Unit 11C, The Wren Centre Westbourne Road

Emsworth

Hampshire

PO10 7SU

United Kingdom

Tel +44 1243 278916 conwaystewart.com

Inkwell London

Please phone to make an appointment to see Francis at Inkwell

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 7785 575057 Inkwell-pens.com

Howards Jewellers

43A Wood St

Stratford-upon-Avon

CV37 6JG

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1789 205404 howardsjewellers.com

PenFriend

PO Box 119, 8 Duncan Street

London

N1 8BW

United Kingdom

Please phone to make an appointment to see Penfriend

Tel: +44 20 7499 6337 penfriend.co.uk

The Writing Desk

53 Horsecroft Rd Bury St Edmunds IP33 2DT United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1284 771454 thewritingdesk.co.uk

Write Here 10 High St Shrewsbury

SY1 1SP

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1743 245950 writeherekitenow.co.uk

Zaf Pens

Patroklou 77 Athens

1312

Greece

Tel: +30 2102618156 zafpens.com

Papelería Ferrer

Calle Sierpes, 5, Sevilla 41004

Spain

Tel: +34 954 22 64 14 stilographcorsani.com

Stilograph Corsani

Roma Via Ottaviano, 79 Roma RM 00192

Italy

Tel: +39 06 3972 3284 stilographcorsani.com

The Old Bookshop

The Old Bookstore. Hafnarstræti 3 425 Flateyri Iceland

Tel: +354 8400600 gamlabokabudin.is

Vaness Inc.

5320 South Shackleford Road Suite F Little Rock AR 72204 USA

Tel: +1 501-353-2362 vanness1938.com

Inkt

17 Victoria Ave Whanganui

Manawatu-Wanganui 4500

New Zealand inkt.co.nz

The Imperial Quill Sector 89, Gurugram, Haryana 122004

India theimperialquill.com

PenGallery

60A, 1st Floor, Jalan SS 2/72, SS 2 Petaling Jaya, Selangor 47300

Malaysia

Tel: +60 3-7956 3318 pengallery.com.my

PenStory

Convensia-daero 42beon-gil, Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea

Tel: +82-10-4451-8845

PenStoryShop.com