date markn.
/ˈdeɪt mɑːk/, U.S. /ˈdeɪt ˌmɑrk/ A mark indicating the date; spec. a mark stamped or engraved on gold or silver plate, pottery, etc., denoting the year of manufacture or registration. Cf. date letter n. at date n.2 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1846 G. Willmore et al. Steel's Shipmaster's Assistant (new ed.) ii. vi. 444 In London the assay year commences on the 30th of May, and the date marks are continued regularly with twenty letters of the alphabet.
1849 Ecclesiologist Nov. 181 It is devoid of distinctive date-marks, except that vague pointed vaulting.
1890 Whitaker's Almanack 636 By the following table of date-marks the age of any piece of plate manufactured in London and assayed at Goldsmiths' Hall may be ascertained.
1936 Trans. Oriental Ceramic Soc. 1935–36 54 Saucers of similar design and colouring are commonly seen bearing date-marks of all the Ch'ing emperors.
1989 Bella 29 Apr. 21/3 First edition books are often an even better buy... Their age is easily determined by the datemark inside the front cover.
2002 Metrop. Mus. Jrnl. 37 246 This pair [of vases] has identical date marks, painter's marks, ground, and generic decoration.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1846