There can be many types of marks on silver and silver plated objects. There are all sorts of things the marks can represent. For example, the mark could be (for a more detailed description click on the following):
- a maker's mark.
- a retailer's mark.
- a design line mark.
- an inventory or part number mark.
- a wholesaler's mark.
- a hallmark
- pseudo hallmarks
- a standard's mark.
- a date mark.
- a owner's ID mark.
- or other obscure marks (like a selling plan or how many items in a set or number of items made etc. etc. etc.)
The term Hallmark is applicable only to marks applied to objects by Government sanctioned Guild Halls and/or assayers. These marks generally are an indication of precious metal content and can also indicate such things as date, town marks, taxes/duty, import/export and etc. See: An Introduction to Hallmarks (click here).
