Marks are the quickest way to identify silver pieces. The Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers by Dorothy Rainwater and Martin and Colette Fuller (Schiffer, Atglen, PA, $29.95, c2004) has been the main reference for manufacturers’ marks since the first edition was published in 1966. The new fifth edition has been reworked with digital pictures and computerized format. Marks and pictures are easier to read. Updates, revisions, and new information are included. More twentieth century makers are listed. Use it to identify 19th- and 20th-century American silver manufacturers.

If you have coin silver from the 18th and 19th centuries, use our 1961 book, Kovels’ American Silver Marks (Crown, NY, revised 1989.) For English marks, see Jackson‘s Silver & Gold Marks of England, Scotland & Ireland, edited by Ian Pickford (Antique Collectors’ Club, Wappingers Falls, NY, c1905, 1989).

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