I have a question. I have heard that British silver is NEVER marked sterling but i have found a few minor items that have full British silver hallmarks, city stamp, lion passant, and date letter as well and the word sterling. These have been more modern items, and not of any great value ( a cigarette case was one )and certainly not worth going to the trouble of counterfeiting itand they did test as silver. So since these item were here in America, my question is, do British makers ever stamp export item with the word sterling or do American or other imports ever do this ?
Yes, British silver for the American market frequently has “sterling” stamped on it in addition to the normal assay marks. I don’t know whether this is normally done by the manufacturers of by the American import agent.