Notes

Egypt introduced compulsory silver hallmarking in 1916, adopting a system that closely followed the British model: a standard mark, a town mark identifying the assay office, and an annual date letter. Rather than the British lion passant, the Egyptian standard mark of this period took the form of a standing cat, used from 1916 until it was replaced by a lotus blossom mark in October 1946. Date letters were struck in Latin characters until 1940, after which the system switched to Arabic numerals. This box carries the cat standard mark, the town mark for Cairo, and the date letter P, placing it at 1939-1940, right at the end of the Latin-letter cycle and shortly before Egypt's hallmarking system changed again