Russia
 
1613  The first mention of the hallmarking of silver. 
1649  A ban was enforced on the marking of low purity silver. 
1700  Peter the Great issued a decree on hallmarking not only for Moscow but also for the provinces. After this year the "imenniki"  - the maker's marks - appear. 
1729  First records of the assay office in Moscow. 
1733  A decree was issued stipulating the proportion of silver and copper in the alloy: 72 zolotniks of silver and 24 zolotniks of copper. 
1735  An assay office was set up in St. Petersburg. 
18thC - 19thC  In Moscow the following procedure was followed in marking silver items: 
  • The maker stamped his "imennik" on the finished product and then submitted it to the guild where it was marked to indicate that it was of good quality. 
  • Then the maker had the item tested in the assay office, where the assayer stamped it with the mark of Moscow and his own mark. 
  • In the other towns of the country the objects were marked as follows: 

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    1.  town mark, sometimes giving the date
    2.  maker's mark with the monogram of his name and sometimes also with the date, always  in a rectangular shield
    3.  mark of fineness in figures (in zolotniks), always in a rectangular shield 
1891  Uniform marks were introduced for the whole country. The hallmark included the monogram of the assay district administrator, in addition to a depiction of a woman's head. 
1927  A new law on hallmarking came into effect establishing new marks of purity calculated in thousandths.