Hallmarking

For sterling silver, anything over 7.78g must be hallmarked.

Hallmarking is a set of marks applied to, in my case, jewellery. These marks mean that the article has been independently tested and guarantees that it conforms to all legal standards of purity (fineness). It also guarantees provenance by telling you where the piece was hallmarked, what the piece is made of and who sent the piece. 

The marks on the piece are the following:

• The Sponsor / Makers Mark -  mine is MM for Milla Mac.  This is a unique mark as it is combined with shapes surrounding the initials (for mine it's a bit like two capital D letters, one forward, one backwards)
• The traditional fineness symbol - which for sterling silver is a lion on its side
• The millesimal fineness mark, which tells you how fine or what quality the metal is - in this case sterling silver is 925, as it means 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metal, generally copper. This alloy helps make it more durable as pure silver can be too soft to wear everyday. 
• The Assay Office symbol - I’m registered with the Birmingham Assay Office who use an anchor as their symbol (relevant as I met my wife through sailing!)