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Hi There, I am new to the forum, and wonder if anyone can help identify the year associated with the date letter on my locket. It seems to be a distinctive i - but I cannot locate precisely which year it applies to.

I would appreciate any ideas.

Thanks

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

I would say it was 1883. If it is the cartouche shape which is confusing you, then I believe at this time variations do occur.

The maker was Robinson & McKewan of Frederick Street and Hockley Street, Birmingham. They entered a similar mark with the Chester Assay Office in 1881.

Trev.

Thank you very much for your reply.

The 1883 i, does look the same, I looked at that previously, but because the cartouche did not match, I had dismissed it. Was it common for marks to vary significantly, because I have some other items that I have problems with on date letters ?

Hi,

No, I wouldn't say it was common, but that particular Birmingham sequence of letters does appear with variations. There may well be a reason for it and it would be interesting to know why.

Trev.

Thanks again.
I would like to know too, so as my curiosity has got the better of me, I have e mailed Birmingham Assay Office
about the oddities inc., mine.

Whether they will reply is another matter...!

Lynda

Hi Lynda,

I'm sure you will get a reply at least, and hopefully they have some thoughts regarding the reasons.

Please be sure to keep us informed of any progress.

Trev.

Will let you know what they say - but no reply yet - I suppose my e mail could have ended up in their spam mail and got junked.

Might give them a call Friday - just to see if they accept e mail queries or should I use snail mail ?

Lynda.

Hi Lynda,

They used to have a very helpful Curator there, Dr. Sally Baggott, but she's left and I'm not sure that position even exists at BAO anymore, I can't find any contact details on their website.

Trev.

I have emailed Birmingham assay office in the past (a few times) with queries on maker marks etc and they have been very helpful, but I have not had to email them this year, but hopefully they will get back to you with an answer.

I'm sorry to hear you have not had a reply from the Birmingham Assay Office (i.e. us) hopefully this will go some way to redressing the balance. People put too much emphasis on books like 'Bradburys' and 'Jacksons' all permutations of shield shape could not be included, just like they tend to be silver oriented- the shape sometimes differ from metal to metal and size of mark i.e a large piece of silver may have a different punch shape than a gold ring. This is the reason we keep a marks register, every year all assay punches kept in the office are punched onto a plate and so if a query arises the relevant plate can be compared to the mark in question. I recognise this particular mark on the actual punch (lower case gothic 'i') the dot merges with the stem of the i making it look like a gothic 'f' especially when the mark is worn. People don't seem to understand how huge the Birmingham Assay Office was at the end of the nineteenth century, I am currently compiling a book of maker's marks c.1890-1920- which will probably take the next 5 years and will include some 4500 makers! Queries regarding makers marks are admirably being dealt with by my colleague Lin Moran (in addition to her full time job as Registration Clerk). Unfortunately Sally Baggott has moved on to another job (a good couple of years ago), and her replacement is concentrating on Educational matters. Many of the queries dealt with by Sally aside from just looking up makers in the register were team efforts and the team's still here! I'll quite happily answer any 'Brummie' related questions if I can. Kind regards
Craig

Hi Craig,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the 'Brummie" update and assistance.

Regards,

Oel.