Home / Proof Marks / London — crown over V (view mark)

London — crown over V (view mark)

British proof marks · 1670-1955.
What it looks like
A crown with a capital V beneath it.
Where it is on the gun
Barrel flats.
Date range
1670-1955.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

The view mark: the barrel was examined, and the letters beside it identify the individual viewer. On a London gun between 1904 and 1925 the crown/V is the standard view proof, and the letter combination is the closest thing the British system has to a date.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

It is a view, not a proof: it records that somebody inspected the barrel, not that a proof load was fired. It must be read with the accompanying proof mark.

Sources for this page

Every claim above is attributed. The class of source is shown with each one, because a national proof house and an anonymous forum table are not the same evidence — and on proof marks the difference matters.

Reading marks to identify and date a gun

Proof marks name the test and the era. The serial number, where a maker published a browsable chart, can name the year. The lookup cites the threshold behind every result.

Open the serial number lookup

Other british proof marks

Mark descriptions observed and verified 2026-10-14. Proof marks are stamped by hand on guns up to a century old; a photographed stamp and a description in a book are not the same evidence. If a mark on your gun does not match anything here, that is a real answer — see the notes on unidentified marks.