Expert: Martin G Roberts - 3/11/2009

Question
hi i have a  quart pewter mug with several marks on, the first is a crest with v r 396 another with g r 396 with a 2 under it  then an [a[ with 19 and 16 next to it, a large 13 then 18 20 21 22 stamped on it have you any info on it regards kevin

Answer
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Hello Kevin,

The marks with VR or GR and 396 are capacity verifications applied by weights and measures inspectors. 396 is a UV number for the county of Hertfordshire - this number was allocated in 1882. VR and GR are regnal cyphers for Queen Victoria and King George. As the UV number did not come into use until 1882, the GR must be George V (or George VI), and the other digits you describe confirm this: they are years (1916, 1919, 1913, 1922, etc.). Each of these year marks represents another occasion when a weights and measures inspector checked the capacity of the mug.

So a mug first used in the late 19th Century, probably in a pub, in Hertfordshire somewhere, and it was still in use in the 1920s.

Mugs of this date with Hertfordshire verifications are almost always of London manufacture.

You can read more about verification marks on my website under the appropriate link.

Hope that helps.

Martin
www.antique-metalware.co.uk