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Italian date code — the 2020 change

Italian proof marks and date codes · From 1 June 2020.
What it looks like
Two digits of the year inside a rectangle, beside the proof-house symbols.
Where it is on the gun
Frame or barrel flat.
Date range
From 1 June 2020.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

The current system. By a resolution of the board of the Banco Nazionale di Prova di Gardone Valtrompia dated 9 March 2020, from 1 June 2020 the year of test is stamped as the last two digits of the year inside a rectangle. On a recent Italian gun this is the fastest possible answer to "what year is it?" — 23 in a rectangle means 2023.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

It applies only from mid-2020 onward, so the same two digits in a square box on an older gun mean something else: before that date the letters system was in force, and a boxed pair of letters is a year on a completely different table. The container shape is the distinguishing feature, and it is easy to mistake at a glance.

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 italian proof marks and date codes

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.