BANKER MARKS or MASONS' MARKS, the marks cut upon the various dressed stones of a masonry building to identify the stone-cutter who prepared the stone, so called from the "banker," or stone bench, at which the stone-cutter works. Banker marks are well-nigh universal in mediaeval buildings in Europe and have been the subject of much archaeological and antiquarian research. It would appear that each stone-cutter had his own individual mark. These were often passed down from father to son. In the i6th century, when others beside working masons were admitted to the lodges of the masonic guilds they, too, received identifying banker marks, which were preserved in the register of the lodge. Banker marks have completely passed out of use in modern masonry.