Birmingham date letters
The anchor tells you the piece was assayed in Birmingham. The letter beside it tells you the year, but only once you know which of the eight cycles it belongs to. Pick your letter, then compare it against what Birmingham was actually striking.
Why the letter is not enough
Birmingham worked through the alphabet in strict order and then started again, so the letter C stands for 1775, 1800, 1826, 1851, 1877, 1902, 1927 and 1952. Eight answers is not an answer.
What separates them is the hand. The office changed it every cycle, deliberately, and the change is not subtle: a black letter capital from the 1824 cycle looks nothing like the Roman capital from 1849. Hold your punch beside the specimens above and most of the candidates disappear at a glance.
Two more things finish the job. A head in profile among the marks is the duty mark, struck only between 1784 and 1890. And the Birmingham office could not assay gold at all until 1824, so a gold piece with an anchor is 1824 or later whatever the letter says.
The eight cycles
| Cycle | Years | Hand | J? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1773 to 1797 | Roman capitals | no |
| 2 | 1798 to 1823 | Roman small | yes |
| 3 | 1824 to 1848 | Black letter capitals | no |
| 4 | 1849 to 1874 | Roman capitals | yes |
| 5 | 1875 to 1899 | Black letter small | no |
| 6 | 1900 to 1924 | Roman small | no |
| 7 | 1925 to 1949 | not transcribed | no |
| 8 | 1950 to 1974 | not transcribed | no |
Cycles 1 to 6 are read off the plates in Chaffers' Handbook to Hall Marks on Gold & Silver Plate, 5th edition 1924, pages 42 to 44, which is out of copyright. That edition was printed before cycles 7 and 8 were struck, so those two are worked out from the cycle boundaries and Birmingham's strict alphabetical order, and are marked as such wherever they appear.
From 1975 every British office shares one cycle and one typeface, so a letter after that date is not a Birmingham question at all. The hallmark reader handles those, and everything else on the piece.
Frequently asked questions
How do I date a Birmingham hallmark?
Find the anchor, which is Birmingham’s town mark, then find the date letter beside it. The letter alone gives eight possible years, because Birmingham ran eight cycles between 1773 and 1974. The hand it is cut in settles which: Birmingham alternated Roman capitals, Roman small letters, black letter capitals and black letter small letters, so the same letter looks quite different from one cycle to the next.
Why does the same Birmingham letter give several years?
A cycle runs through the alphabet and then starts again, so every letter is reused roughly every 25 years. Comparing the shape of your punch against the cycle it belongs to is what takes eight candidates down to one, and that is what this page is for.
Does Birmingham use the letter J?
Only in the cycles that needed it. A 25 year cycle skips J and a 26 year cycle uses it, because Birmingham worked through the alphabet in strict order and the number of letters has to match the number of years. Cycles 2 and 4 - 1798 to 1823 and 1849 to 1874 - have a J. The others do not.
What is the head in profile on a Birmingham piece?
The duty mark. It shows the reigning sovereign and says the duty on the silver or gold had been paid. It was struck from 1784 until duty was abolished in 1890, so its presence puts a piece inside that window and its absence puts it outside.
Can a Birmingham gold piece be earlier than 1824?
No. The Birmingham office was founded in 1773 to assay silver and did not get the right to assay gold until 1824, so a gold piece with an anchor cannot be older than that.