What are the different item quality characters?

What do the item quality character designations mean? What quality is *<*sword*>*, etc?


Solution 1:

A full list and description is available at the df wiki.

In order from worst to best, with their additions to item quality:

  • Nothing = 1x
  • - = 2x
  • + = 3x
  • * = 4x
  • ≡ = 5x
  • ☼ = 12x
  • Artifact items, (ones with a unique name) = 10x in the latest version, 120x in 0.28

The page for the previous version is far more detailed, but some information may be out of date.