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I have checked the hallmarks both on here and my books and cannot match them up so help appreciated. I am a metal detectorist and am trying to write an article on the finds of a particular field, amonst them was this silver thimble, If I can ID the marks (year etc) it will help me to put other finds in that area into context, your help would be most appreciated.

The marks in order seem to be

10 (finger size of thimble?)
HW (possibly) Makers Initials?
Lion Passant, Sterling Silver
Town or City mark which I cannot match up
Year of Make Letter

Paul




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The city of assy mark looks like Chester but I cannot assign a name to H.W.
The year stamp could be 1802 or 1889, the latter being my favoured choice.

Hope this helps a little.
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There is no duty mark so one can assume a date of post 1889, Chester. There are numerous Chester makers with H+W as a punch. The Puzzle is the F. If it were in the normal oval punch one would assume it to be the mark used for foreign silver imported in the 1867 - 1904 period . But this does look like a dateletter punch and I can only assume that the date is actually 2 May 1890 - 5 July 1890 - which is just after the duty was dropped but before the G of 1890-1891.The serifs on the left side of the F tend to support that view. Probably not the date you wanted, but one of the most precise you can get - a span of only two months !
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Thank you for your replies, in a way I am pleased that the answers are not definitive because I had tried to date this myself and could not work it out, I had thought that the marks were exact and could always be interpreted but it seems not. The earliest objects I have found in this field run from the year 200 (Roman Brooch) but the silver thimble is just as much part of the history of that field and its use and habitation as the brooch its self and is microcosm of our countries history so whatever the date its interesting and useful info, so again, thank you both for your replies (and any more which may follow).
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I don't think the 'F' is a puzzle - according to Jackson's, from 2 May 1890 to 5 July 1890 the 'F' was used without the duty mark in Chester.
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I too think you can be confident of the assay date being 1889-90.

As "Buckler" has said there are a few Chester registered marks for HW but in my view only two fit the bill;

Henry Williamson of Farringdon Road London and Henry Wood of Wood St Liverpool.

Williamson is a known thimble maker.
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