3     Dutch Dating Codes for Silver Items, 1815–1960

 

 

 

efore this practical system of date-stamping silver was introduced, most towns and cities making toys, such as Amsterdam and The Hague, used their own system of date-stamping their or otherwise marking their work. Date marking with a letter started as early as 1503. For a number of centuries there was no national standardised system, each town guild had its own mark and dating system. The present system was put into place in 1815 and has remained largely unchanged until today (see Figure 2).

 

Figure 2     Dutch date stamping system, 1815–1960.

 

However, a problem arises when toys are found which, though date-stamped, do not register on this chart: because alphabetical codes were used in the eighteenth century there is no record to establish the exact year in which a particular toy was made.

 

Figure 3     Alphabetical hallmarks.

 

The hallmarks in Figure 3 are ordered alphabetically. The section marked A (left-hand column) shows the silver guild marks used in some 35 of the larger towns in the Netherlands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They show what one would rarely find in reality, namely all four of the marks, supposed to be on a piece of silver during the period prior to the dismantling of the guilds in 1810. Top to bottom they show:

 

·         Z for date letter mark for 1782

·         the Rotterdam silver mark

·         Next the lion rampant silver guarantee mark (875)¹ the maker’s mark of Vendrik Vrijman.

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¹ This figure depends on the percentage of pure silver to copper. As the copper content increases so the figure decreases. Regulations in the UK now acknowledge a silver grade as low as 800 parts to 1000. The silversmith stamps the object with the grade of silver it was made of, as long as it is within acceptable limits.

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The B marks, across the top of Figure 3, have been used from 1814 to the present day. From the left they show:

 

·         the maker’s mark

·         lion passant mark

·         the Minerva head or duty mark

·         the date stamp mark.

 

The C (right-hand column)marks are basically the same as B, except that the maker’s mark is unknown. The lion rampant is silver purity .934. The letter L in a circle is the year date for 1921.

D and E:   These sword marks were in use 1814–1905 on toys that were too small to take a full hallmarking. They were also used to mark the excess pieces on fully hallmarked objects which comprised of multiple parts.

F This sword mark was in use 1906–1953, in the same circumstances as D and E. From 1953 a similar sword was used, but with the standard silver numerals on the blade of 835² and 935.

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² The present standard sword mark on silver shows the figures 835, which is the silver grade used.

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G is the axe mark, and was in use 1853–1927 as a tax mark for old silver items bearing old silver marks that had come back into circulation.

H and I are tax marks applied to larger articles of foreign silver.

J: The script letter I is also a tax mark for old Dutch made silver. It can be the only letter found on a piece of silver, but does not guarantee anything in particular apart from that of a tax mark.

K: The dolphin mark was in use 1859–1893, for Dutch made articles of silver that were below the 833 purity standard. It was also used in 1893–1905 in a triangular shaped cartouche.

L: The key mark was in use in 1853–1953; it is stamped abutting or intruding on the lion or the sword standard mark to indicate that the object was made for export.