Towle Silver Marks: How to Identify and Date Towle

Published September 28, 2026 · The Velqo Editorial Team

Towle silver marks confuse people for a reason that is easy to miss: the company traded under several different names before it looked anything like the trademark most people search for. A piece can be genuinely early Towle work and still carry no lion, no T, and nothing that resembles the mark on a modern piece. Searching for “the Towle mark” as if there has only ever been one version is the first mistake, and it sends plenty of legitimate early pieces down a dead end.

Towle silver is identified primarily by the lion-and-T trademark, a stylized script T with a rampant lion worked into it, adopted in 1890 and used continuously since. Pieces made before that date carry the company name spelled out in plain letters instead, with no lion at all, and pattern name is usually the more precise dating tool once you get past the trademark.

Quick identification checklist

  • Look for the lion-and-T mark. A script capital T with a small rampant lion set into or beside it, usually next to the word STERLING. This is the mark used from 1890 onward.
  • Check for a spelled-out company name instead. “Towle & Jones” or “A.F. Towle & Son” in plain letters, with no lion, points to a piece made before the 1890 trademark.
  • Confirm STERLING is present. Sterling pieces carry the word STERLING alongside the trademark. Its absence, especially alongside EPNS or the words “Towle Silverplate,” means plated ware rather than solid silver.
  • Read the pattern name. Towle numbered and named its flatware patterns extensively, and a named pattern usually brackets a piece to a much narrower date range than the trademark alone.
  • Do not expect a year symbol. Unlike some competitors, Towle did not use a systematic date-letter or date-symbol system. Dating past the trademark era relies on the pattern name and mark style, not a coded year.
  • Note any retailer or department-store mark alongside the maker’s mark. Towle sold extensively through jewelers and department stores, and a retailer name on the piece does not replace the maker’s own mark.

Where the Towle name actually comes from

The lineage runs through a much older Newburyport, Massachusetts silversmithing family before the Towle name enters it at all. In 1857, Joseph Moulton sold the silver business he had inherited from William Moulton IV to two of his father’s apprentices, Anthony Francis Towle and William P. Jones, and the pair formed Towle & Jones. In 1873, Edward Bass Towle joined the business and it became A.F. Towle & Son, which continued to around 1902. Separately, in 1882, Anthony Francis Towle established the Towle Manufacturing Company while still retaining his interest in A.F. Towle & Son. So for a stretch in the 1880s and 1890s, more than one Towle-connected firm existed at once, which is part of why early marks vary.

None of those early firm names carried a lion. The lion-and-T trademark itself was adopted in 1890 by the Towle Manufacturing Company and has stayed in continuous use since, through the company’s 1971 purchase of Poole Silver Co. and its 1990 acquisition by Syratech Corporation. A piece marked plainly “Towle & Jones” or “A.F. Towle & Son,” with no lion anywhere on it, is not a fake or a mistake. It predates the trademark most people are picturing.

Reading the lion-and-T mark itself

The mark is a single combined device rather than separate stamps the way some makers do it: a stylized, capitalized script T with a small rampant lion worked into the letterform, not a lion and a T sitting apart from each other. It sits next to the word STERLING on solid silver pieces. Because the lion is integrated into the T rather than free-standing, a worn or shallow strike can make it easy to miss on a quick glance, which is a common reason people mistake later sterling Towle for an unmarked piece.

The trademark by itself answers who made the piece, not when. Since the same mark has been used with only minor rendering differences since 1890, matching the lion-and-T to a reference photo narrows a piece to “sometime after 1890” and nothing more specific. The pattern name is what actually narrows the date from there.

Sterling versus plate: the distinction that matters most

STERLING marked next to the trademark means solid 92.5 percent silver. EPNS, the words “Towle Silverplate,” or any wording describing a plated finish means a silver layer over a base metal core, an entirely different product with a different market. A mark that reads only “TOWLE,” with neither STERLING nor a plate designation spelled out, should be treated as probably plate until you find a STERLING mark elsewhere on the piece, since Towle’s plated lines were extensive and this ambiguous case comes up often. Check for the word before doing anything else with the piece, because everything about dating and identification downstream assumes you have sorted this first.

Dating by pattern, not by symbol

This is the real information gap in how most people approach Towle. Unlike a maker that stamps a year letter or symbol onto every piece, Towle silver was never systematically date-marked the way some competitors were. Once you have confirmed the trademark and the sterling-versus-plate question, the pattern name is what actually does the dating work, because Towle documented its flatware pattern introductions closely and collector references track them by year.

A few well-documented examples: King Richard, a heavily carved baroque pattern with a crest and shield motif, was introduced in 1932. Old Master, a Victorian-revival design with a violin-shaped handle and scroll-and-flute decoration, followed in 1942. Canterbury dates to 1893, Fiddle Thread to 1902, Lady Mary to 1917, and D’Orleans to 1923. Matching the motif on a piece to a documented pattern and its introduction year gives a far tighter date range than the trademark alone ever will, and it works whether the piece is decades old or was made much more recently in a long-running pattern.

Watch-outs and common mistakes

  • Assuming a lack of lion mark means the piece isn’t Towle. Pre-1890 pieces from Towle & Jones or A.F. Towle & Son genuinely carry no lion.
  • Reading “TOWLE” alone as proof of sterling. Without STERLING spelled out, treat the piece as plate until you confirm otherwise.
  • Expecting a date code. There is no systematic year-letter or symbol system on Towle silver the way there is on some competitors. Trying to force a mark into a date chart that does not apply produces a confident wrong answer.
  • Treating a retailer’s name as the maker’s mark. Towle sold heavily through jewelers and department stores, and a store name stamped alongside the Towle mark is a seller, not a different manufacturer.
  • Dating from a reissued pattern’s introduction year alone. Long-running patterns like Fiddle Thread stayed in production for decades, so a piece in that pattern could have been made at almost any point across that run, not only at its introduction.

Photo tips

  • Shoot the trademark flat-on and close, with the STERLING or EPNS wording in the same frame if there is room.
  • Use raking light from the side to bring up a shallow or worn strike on the lion-and-T mark.
  • Photograph the pattern motif on the handle separately, filling the frame, since this is what actually narrows the date.
  • Include any retailer’s mark in its own photo rather than assuming it is the maker’s mark.
  • Avoid direct flash on polished silver, which washes out the fine detail in both the trademark and the pattern.

Common questions

What does the Towle lion mean on silver?

It is half of the lion-and-T trademark, a stylized script T with a rampant lion worked into the letterform, adopted by the Towle Manufacturing Company in 1890 and used continuously since. It confirms Towle as the maker and, alongside the word STERLING, confirms solid 92.5 percent silver. It does not by itself indicate a date beyond “1890 or later.”

How can I tell if my Towle piece is sterling or plate?

Check for the word STERLING next to the trademark. Its presence means solid silver. EPNS, “Towle Silverplate,” or the absence of any fineness wording alongside a bare “TOWLE” mark means plated ware. Confirm this before trying to date or value the piece, since it changes what kind of piece you actually have.

My Towle silver has no lion at all. Is it really Towle?

It can be. The lion-and-T trademark only dates to 1890. Earlier pieces marked “Towle & Jones” or “A.F. Towle & Son” in plain lettering, with no lion, predate the trademark and are legitimate early Towle-lineage work rather than fakes or misattributions.

When to use the Antique Identifier app

Photograph the trademark flat-on in raking light, then the pattern motif on the handle by itself, then the whole piece. The app helps sort the two questions that actually matter here: whether the mark is the pre-1890 text-only form or the lion-and-T, and whether STERLING is present at all. Once those are settled, matching the pattern name against a reference is what narrows the date, so treat the app’s read as a starting point to stack against a pattern reference rather than a final answer, and confirm anything you plan to sell or insure with a specialist.