I recently purchased an English sterling silver snuffbox. In addition to the hallmarks for Birmingham, the lion passant, the head of Victoria and a date letter P, it has the initials WD both on the underside of the lid and the bottom of the box. Does anyone know what these letters indicate. I assume it is the initials of the maker.
Leo
Yes, WD is the maker (or more strictly “sponsor”). I presume that the date letter is a plain upper case P which would put it at 1864 and therefore very likely just within the time period covered by the Birmingham Assay Office’s excellent sponsors’ marks listing which currently goes up to 1858. Click here to go to the site where you will probably find that William Dudley’s marks match.
Thank you for the information. It is an uppercase P and therefore 1864. William Dudley’s marks match. Very pleased.
Leo :