Antique silver: how to read hallmarks

Antique silver carries its file stamped into the metal. Hallmarks — the tiny marks on the back of a spoon or the neck of a ewer — state the alloy's standard, the country, often the period and sometimes the workshop. Reading them turns an inherited drawer into an inventory.

The first mark to look for is the standard mark. In France, the helmeted Minerva has guaranteed first-standard silver since 1838; the boar's head marks small Paris wares; the rooster belongs to the 1798-1809 period. Each gives both a purity guarantee and a date bracket.

Then the maker's mark: a lozenge or oval containing the silversmith's initials and a symbol. It is the signature, and reference books let you identify it — which changes everything, since the same model is not worth the same from different workshops.

Britain and the Netherlands have their own systems: the crowned leopard for London, an annual date letter, Dutch town marks. The habit comes quickly, because hallmarks are always in the same places: backs of handles, edges of feet, necks of jugs.

One trap to know: silver plate is not silver. EPNS-type marks or square punches with a bare initial indicate industrial plating — decorative, but a very different value.

At Maison Boitel, silver pieces are described by the dealers who offer them, hallmarks included, and each one answers questions directly — the sale happens with 0% commission between you and them.