Year Mark
The hallmark
stamped on a piece of jewellery by one of the four assay
offices in the United Kingdom includes the date letter indicating the year
of approval. The letters of the alphabet run through in a sequence excluding
U;1997 was X, 1998 Y, 1999 Z. Now the sequence is beginning again, with lower
case letters – 2000 is a, 2001 b, 2002 c and so on.