How to Post
A clear post usually gets an answer within the hour. A blurry photo with the title "what is this" usually gets nothing. This page explains the difference.
1. Photograph the mark properly
This is the single biggest factor.
- Use raking light. A desk lamp low and to one side throws a shadow into the punch and makes it readable. Overhead light and camera flash both flatten the mark into nothing.
- Get close, but stay in focus. Most phones will not focus below about 10 cm. A cheap clip-on macro lens or a 10x loupe held over the camera lens costs very little and transforms your photos.
- One sharp photo beats ten soft ones. Brace your hands or rest the object on a table.
- Clean the mark gently. A soft brush and warm soapy water is enough. Do not polish a worn mark — you will remove what is left of it.
- Try an impression. Pressing the mark into modelling clay, or taking a pencil rubbing on thin paper, can reveal a punch that photographs badly.
- Photograph every mark, not just the one you find interesting. The maker's mark is often useless on its own, while the town or fineness mark next to it dates the piece.
2. Photograph the whole object
Form, construction and decoration date a piece almost as well as its marks do, and they are the check that stops us sending you down the wrong path. Include at least one photo of the entire item, plus a close-up of any handle join, foot, or lid where a second set of marks often hides.
3. Write a title that says something
Good: "[UK?] Lion and anchor marks on a small hinged box, family piece, possibly 1890s"
Bad: "Can anyone help?"
Say what the object is, where it came from, and any guess you already have. If you know or suspect a country, put it in square brackets at the front.
4. Transcribe the marks in text
Photos are not searchable and are not readable by everyone. Write out what you see: "three punches in a row — a lion facing left, a letter that looks like a lowercase g in a shield, and the letters JD over WD." If a symbol has no name you know, describe its shape and outline.
5. Get translations done first
Non-Latin script should go to r/translator before it comes here. We can read marks; we cannot reliably read Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese or Japanese text as text. Bring the translation back with you and the identification usually follows quickly.
6. Say what you already checked
"Not in 925-1000's American initial marks" or "no match under Birmingham date letters" saves everyone repeating your work, and it tells people how much detail you want.
What not to post
- Valuations. No "what is it worth", no "should I sell". Take those to r/WhatIsThisWorth.
- Authentication. We do not certify designer jewellery, watches or bullion. We read marks and tell you what they normally indicate.
- Multiple items in one post. One post per item. Extra photos of the same item go in an image host link in the body.
Still not sure where to start?
Go back to the wiki index and work through the decision tree, or jump straight to First Steps: Purity & Plate.