Home / Proof Marks / Spanish proof — the Eibar system

Spanish proof — the Eibar system

Export, import and country-of-origin stamps · Since 1995 in the current form.
What it looks like
A block of digits, sometimes with the Eibar proof-house device, stamped on the barrel or frame.
Where it is on the gun
Barrel and frame.
Date range
Since 1995 in the current form.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

A complete identification string that is more informative than most proof marks in Europe. After 1995 the Spanish system at Eibar packs five pieces of information into one number: the first two digits identify the maker (16 is AYA, 13 is Lanber), the next two the type of gun (03 indicates a shotgun), then the maker’s own serial number, and the final pair the year of manufacture — 98 is 1998, 05 is 2005.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

It applies to the current system only. Older Spanish guns use different schemes, and the digits are not a proof pressure like the British markings, so a reader looking for bars or kg will not find them.

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 export, import and country-of-origin stamps

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.