French Hallmarks: How to Read Them

Q: Do french hallmarks tell you the year?

No. France does not use a date mark. Work through the guarantee mark first. A cockerel means 1797 to 1819. An old man's head, the vieillard, means 1819 to 1838. A Minerva head for silver or an eagle's head for gold means 1838 or later. Within that last group the smaller marks narrow it further: a horse's head is 1838 to 1919, a boar's head cannot be later than 1961, a crayfish cannot be earlier than 1962. Two marks read together usually give a window of a few decades, and sometimes less.

Marking since: 1797
Gives a year: No

How the system works

A French piece carries two things: a state guarantee mark for the metal, and the maker's own punch. Since a law of 1797 the maker's punch has been a lozenge, a diamond outline containing initials and a small symbol chosen by the maker. That shape has not changed in more than two centuries, which makes it the most reliable single indicator of French origin. The guarantee marks are animal and figure heads rather than letters, and each design belongs to a known period.

The marks

Mark	What it means
Cockerel	The republican guarantee mark, from 9 November 1797 - the law of 19 Brumaire an VI - to 1 September 1809, then redrawn and used to 1819.
Old man's head	The vieillard, usually said to be Michelangelo. 1819 to 1838.
Minerva head	Silver, from 1838 to today. A numeral 1 beside the head indicates 950, a numeral 2 indicates 800.
Eagle's head	18 carat gold, 750, from 1838 to today.
Horse's head	18 carat gold, 1838 to 1919.
Boar's head	Small silver work assayed in Paris, 1838 to 1961.
Crayfish	Small silver work nationally, from 1962.
Owl	Gold imported into France of at least 750 fineness, from 1893.
Swan	Work of foreign or uncertain origin sold within France, typically at auction.
Rhinoceros	Not a guarantee mark. It is struck at intervals along gold chains and bracelets to show the whole length was assayed, so it says nothing about the metal beyond gold.
Lozenge	Not a state mark but the maker's own, in a diamond outline with initials and a symbol. Compulsory since 1797.
Greek physician's head	Gold guarantee mark, 1838 to 1919, when the eagle's head superseded it. Often called the Hippocrates mark. It cannot appear after 1919.
Winged head	Mercury. French-made work intended for export; on silver 1878 to 1973. It means made in France and sent abroad.
Weevil	Imported gold of at least 750 fineness with duty paid, 1919 to 1993. It is not a mark for low-carat work.
Seahorse	Gold of 999 fineness, 24 carat, in the current system.
Scallop shell	Gold of 585, 14 carat. A modern French standard, so the mark itself dates the piece.
Clover leaf	Gold of 375, 9 carat. Also modern only.
Dog's head	Platinum, from 1911. It guaranteed 950 alone until the 1994 reform, after which it appears in variants for 950, 900 and 850. Platinum of 999 carries an emperor penguin instead.
Mask (mascaron)	Second-hand platinum of French or uncertain origin sold in France.
The letters ET	Imported work below the French standards: under 375 for gold, under 800 for silver. Not initials, and not French.

The standards

Figure or mark	Fineness and use
950	First standard silver.
800	Second standard silver.
750	18 carat gold, the only gold standard recognised in France for most of the period.

Dating a french piece

Work through the guarantee mark first. A cockerel means 1797 to 1819. An old man's head, the vieillard, means 1819 to 1838. A Minerva head for silver or an eagle's head for gold means 1838 or later. Within that last group the smaller marks narrow it further: a horse's head is 1838 to 1919, a boar's head cannot be later than 1961, a crayfish cannot be earlier than 1962. Two marks read together usually give a window of a few decades, and sometimes less.

Where the marks will not give you a year, date the piece from its construction instead: the catch, the metal, the setting and the cut of the stones. That method is set out in how to date antique jewelry.

Where people go wrong

French marks are struck on hidden edges: the inside of a shank, the underside of a bezel, the very edge of a clasp. Many French pieces are wrongly described as unmarked by people who never used a loupe.
An owl means the gold entered France, not that it was made there. It is an import mark, and it appears on English, Swiss and Italian work sold in France.
A swan means the piece was of foreign or uncertain origin and was sold within France, typically at auction. It tells you about the sale, not the workshop.
There is no public register of French makers' punches. The archives of the poincon de maitre have never been published as a searchable list, so a lozenge can be dated and placed but usually not named.
Before 1798 several systems ran in quick succession through the Revolution, and before that the Ancien Regime used charge and discharge marks that varied by city and by tax farmer. Attribution of pre-1798 French work needs specialist reference and often an archive.
Four marks record a sale rather than a workshop: the owl for imported gold, the swan for silver of uncertain origin, the mascaron for platinum, and ET for imported work below the French standards. None makes a piece French. The Mercury head means the reverse - made in France and exported.

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