Silversmith's Assay Mark

[sigma]

Would a silversmith working for a company have his own makers mark or would he use the company's makers mark.

[Sharingan]

Usually the company mark I believe.

[woofgang]

Some silversmiths who are well known in their own right might also add their own mark to the company mark, with the company's agreement.

[FredPuli43]

Whoever was the boss had his mark on the piece, as recorded when he became a master silversmith. The piece might have been substantially made by someone else in his or her employ but they didn't have their own mark. With companies having marks, the practice has been for the piece to be marketed as designed by a given maker and stamped accordingly, alongside the mark of the company. The actual silversmith who made it is unlikely to be entitled to his own mark.

[Clanad]

In addition, all true silver pieces (not silver plate) must have the figure .925 or if old enough, have the word 'sterling" stamped on the back (along with about 4 other required marks, including the above mentioned maker's mark...

The word 'sterling' or the number .925 (possibly, but rarely 925/1000) denotes the minimum amount of silver needed to be considered "silver" and not silver plate...

[Sharingan]

That's only the sterling quality though clannad, middle eastern silver for example has a much lower grade right down to 500 in places, and continental silver is often of a lower grade too often 800 for example.

[Clanad]

Which is why this is but one of the required marks on silver products made in the EU or here in the U.S. It assures the assay quality of the piece.

Even at that, the other 4 marks required are an attempt to overcome the fakes and poorly made silver plate that's often passed off as true silver...

[Sharingan]

My point was that there are many grades of true silver both lower and higher which is not plate which is available in Europe but which is not .925. 'Sterling' is quite a new mark as is .925 more often if it's pre war English you'll get a a set of marks denoting where it was assayed and the year and sometimes, not always by any means, a maker's mark. If the silver was imported officially you also get an import mark, but if someone just brought a few pieces back this is very often not the case. US silver is something I'm not terribly familiar with but for anyone interested this is a great site all about worldwide silver grades and marks and a encyclopaedia of makers marks too.
http://www.925-1000.com/index.html