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Hello,

I have been painstakingly trawling the internet to try to find the origin or at least a bit of information about a makers mark I am interested in on a silver crucifix I have. If anyone knows anything about this mark it would be of great interest to me to know anything you know about it.

The makers mark is HMS.

Stamped at Edinburgh assay office.

925 silver.

Year 2000.

Hi,

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Trev.

Hi, did you ever find out anything about the HMS hallmark? I have a 925 silver bangle with the same HMS makers hallmark.
Many thanks, Meema.

Hi, nice cross. I am not sure who the maker is but I can tell you this for certain, It was made in Scotland and assayed in Edinburgh (the castle mark) in the year 2000. The 2000 mark was a special optional commemorative mark that any gold/silversmiths in Great Britain could use.

The Edinburgh Incorporation of Goldsmiths have a section of their web site devoted to makers' marks. They normally have a fairly comprehensive coverage but unfortunately HMS seems to have slipped through their net and it is not currently possible to assign a name to the initials.

Phil

HI there

Apologies for not responding sooner, but I have been off work for a while. As Archivist of the Edinburgh Assay Office, I can confirm that the HMS (in a shield, and also HMS incuse) are the marks currently registered to Howard Stearn, a UK jewellery manufacturer.

The reason his mark is not on the Incorporation of Goldsmiths' Archive Database is because when I created the database I only included registrations up to 1986. This means a handful of important firms and individuals who are still in business since that date (and still registered with the Assay Office) are on the system. We also add (annually) customers whose registration with the Assay Office has lapsed.

Stearn registered in 1994 and is still a current customer of the Edinburgh Assay Office. His marks are noted on the 'Live' customer database of the Edinburgh Assay Office which is not accessible to the public.

I remember many hundreds of these silver crosses being hallmarked in time for the millennium. At the time I was working in the Hallmarking department as a refinisher, so if any of the crosses were badly hallmarked, I had to sand and polish out the marks so they could be marked again. I really grew to dread them!

Best wishes

Elspeth Morrison
(Archivist, The Incorporation of Goldsmiths of the City of Edinburgh)

Hi Elspeth,

Many thanks for taking the time to update this topic, it's very much appreciated.

Trev.