English silver import marks. I’m interested in the F mark for import marks. Did the English pieces from 1867 to 1904 get assayed first and then given the F mark? Did the assay office also put on the F mark? Is it a guarantee that “foreign” pieces were actually assayed or did they take the word of the marks that other jurisdictions had put on them? thanks as always for insights.
The British Customs Act 1842 required gold and silver products imported from outside the UK cannot be sold in the UK unless they are also assayed by a British Assay Office.
In 1867, the letter “F” for “Foreign” was added by the assay office to the existing British hallmarks. This mark was used until around 1904 to show non-UK origin. It should be noted the additional mark of an F was often avoided until the 1883 Revenue Act mandated that all imported silver wares be placed in bond until hallmarked.
In 1904 the law was changed from the previous format of adding the “F” to using unique marks for each assay offices around the UK.
While the lion passant was retained as a “standard mark” imported silver products are now stamped with a numerical mark such as “.925” inside an oval, overcoming the worry that imported silver while it ha gone through assay was still of inferior quality.
A complete discusson of import marks through to common market and on to today can be found here:
Of course if foreigners were to be marked as such by the British, then the Dutch and the French made sure they did the same. The history of European import marks on UK silver is an early example of tariffs and counter tariffs working against the consumer and that discussion is outside the ambience of your inquiry.
If you seek specific examples of F marks on UK silver I found four cited in this blog and many more elsewhere. I once bought a fairly important piece of silver made in London in 1821, sold to someone in Paris and marked for import then re imported back to the UK where it was re assayed before being shipping to Canada where the government of Canada sought to tax me again as an import.
Technically it was, but I argued the government of the UK had already collected tax on it twice and the French once and as it was coming in through Quebec I should not pay any more tax. Eventually the Canadians relented and I got my rose bowl. which I then shipped to the US where the discussion about tax arose anew.
CRWW
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Thanks for the reply and the explanation. So the F and the set of English hallmarks would be struck on the piece to ensure it was sterling, and the assay lab actually assayed the imported pieces, correct? What did they do if something was .800? And presumably if something were of higher standard, like the French minerva 1, then it would still be rated as sterling?
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No. The “F” stood for Foreign and was put on a range of imported continental silver percentages. That is why they switched in 1904 to a more precise mark showing the actual percentage of silver. The .925 happened to be for Sterling. If it was .800 it would be marked so and likewise if it were Minerva standard from France again marked .950 and again lacking the sterling lion.
The full article, which I referenced, dealt with this in some detail setting out a table for individual assay marks replacing the standard F for each assay office. If it was below sterling before 1904 it would be stamped F but the lion – indicated sterling would not be used by the assay office.
This created a situation where, if an F was stamped on silver, even if it was sterling or better, the presumption was it might be a lower quality which is why the F, mandated by the 1842 Act was so often just left off and why in 1904 a new marking system was introduced.
In summary. All silver sold in the UK must be assayed in the UK. If it is below sterling the Lion passant will not be added just the F until 1904. If its above Sterling, Minerva or even Britannia or if Japanese sometimes nearly pure silver, it will be marked with the F and the foreign marking showing silver content will stand. If there are no foreign markings, and for instance the Japanese rarely marked silver other than with the Japanese chop “pure silver”, then locals buying might easily presume they were buying some lower standard – something like .800 or less from Germany specifically Hanau where marks seem little more than advisory and decorative.
I have never seen Japanese silver marked with an F but would very much like to. I have seen Minerva standard (950) so marked and bought some of it in auction about 15 years ago. Even then, decades after the notorious F had disappeared, the French gilt-silver sold well below scrap. Maybe there just were not bidders or maybe the F really did become for silversmiths “The Scarlet Letter”.
The early Victorian system reflects local manufacturers putting pressure on their governments and guilds to wall-out foreign competition. This especially so in the watch case business where the Swiss were rapidly putting the London makers out of business with an early form of Ford’s production line. The government itself didn’t have much skin in the game until after the sixpence duty was abolished toward the end of Victoria’s reign and tax on imports collected directly by the government and not by the guilds and forwarded to the government.
This was the beginning of the massive shipments of silver to the UK from Canada and Australia. One Ontario mine alone – the Cobalt Mine 200 miles north of Toronto-- produced enough silver to fund almost the entire of WWI. There are still massive wrecks of UK ships whose hulls are full of the metal. The closest is one off the Hebrides but there are others.
Today there is renewed interest in these old mines both in Ontario and the Interior of BC. Even if they only get through the tailings they will be profitable.
CRWW
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