Full List of Irish Silver Hallmark Date Letters

The year in which a piece of Irish silver was made can be determined by the date letter- this is a mark applied by the assay office when it is hallmarked. As there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, they are reused, which each cycle slightly different to the preceding one. However, sometimes it can be a challenge to identify which year a piece of Irish silver was made – the differences between some of the cycles can require a trained eye.

This post is quite long, apologies to fans of diamond photographs! There are 90 images (or so) of date stamps from the last 300 years, which should help to determine the age of a piece. Originally the letters cycled every 24 years, one year per letter of the alphabet, excluding J and V. In the modern era, these letters are included, giving a 26-year cycle.

Please do bookmark this page, I’ll try to fill in the gaps bit by bit! Over time it will hopefully grow to be a complete listing of Irish silver date letters.

There is a big gap from 1737 until 1760 (as at 14/9/12!), hopefully I can do something about that soon! This is not too surprising, as much of the silver hallmarked in that era does not bear a date letter.

MOST RECENT EDIT: 24/5/13 with date letters 1923!

T from 1708/09. (This letter was used for two years)