Greetings to the community! I bought a John Grinsell & Sons decanter with a silver lock. As I see from the hallmark, the year of creation of the lock is 1920. But there is also a stamp of 1956. The auction house where I bought this item dated the decanter to 1956. Please help me to identify the date of the item. Thank you!
I think that “1956” is a pattern number.
Birmingham, 1920.
John Grinsell & Son Locking Decanter With Silver Plated Locking Mount
On silver items, the date is never spelled out in numerals - it’s always indicated by some sort of date letter (U.K. system), or other date-specific marking (an icon of some sort). As Bart said, this is a pattern number. It could just as easily have been 1294 or 5714.
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That’s great! That’s what I thought. Thank you very much!
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Thanks a lot, Jeff! I decided to make sure I had the year right. I may have misunderstood the auction house’s description of this lot
More likely it was the auction house that was confused. Their descriptions are often hilariously wrong. 
Yes, I often have to check everything. Could the number 1956 be the number of the lock’s patent?
Lock’s pattern number.
Thank you very much, Bartholomew