Ok so If someone can direct me to an image website I can post the picture I took in game. I got no problem with that. Otherwise if you want to find it, just go to solitude; on your left the first building is the stinking skeever inn. Right after that building before the 2nd building on the left their is a mini alleyway that leads to the castle wall; pretty much a dead end.

Well when you are touching that wall look to your right; you will see a shorter wall connected with that 2nd building. If you get to the top of it which I did by going through the palace to become an imperiel; then jumping onto that 2nd building and walking around the roof to that little top. Anyhow I can post pictures just give me a good site as imgur doesn't seem to be working with me right now

(i have a membership with one of them I just forgot which)

My bet lies on Shadowmarks.
The Thieves Guild way to show to locations of interest, like loot, safe areas and escape routes.

A description of the mark would have been nice. I bet it's just one of Thieves Guild's shadowmarks.

This.I suspect that too.

could be, it's a circular symbol.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Shadowmarks Is it one of those?

Yeah those are Thieve's Guild symbols.

Probably a Thieves guild Shadowmark, I always keep a copy of their book with me on my stealth characters so there's mistaking them.

http://tinypic.com/

Just do the thieves guild quest and you'll find out what it is. It kinda ruins it for ya by knowing this before the guild quest. Well it did at least for me. I saw somebody posted the meaning of those marks and I was about 25% into the quests and I knew right away what the meaning of the symbols are.

Ain't like you'll see em if you don't look for 'em though.

I tried to find them, hard, and I can only find some around the Riften marketplace. Oddly, I can't find anything around the Black-Briar manor

At first I only saw one or two, now I'm about 200+ hours into the game and they are everywhere. I mean everywhere. Not sure if it's because I just didn't notice or because they appear randomly throughout the game. I recently went into Whiterun after a long time of not going visiting and I noticed almost every house and shop has them.

I noticed two different ones first thing on my very first toon, in Whiterun - the "barrel" one and the upside-down triangle one....

There's one in Markarth, outside the treasury I think it is.
I think it is the sign for 'loot'.

Perhaps because I'm not too far in Thieves Guild line? I've never paid attention to anything, but I'm pretty sure those marks weren't there in Riften Marketplace

I just memorized the bad ones, meaning, the ones I can't steal from. The rest don't matter to me.

Where do you find the book with the explanation of the symbols?

There are plenty in The Ragged Flagon

Addressing the actual OP question: yes, I've seen them in various places in Solitude - as well as every other hold capital, and for instance, Rorikstead, Ivarstead, and Riverwood....

Thanks bud

That's because that house of all houses in Riften--and 100% of its occupants---are untouchable by default. i.e. they're elitie TG members that not even Mercer would consider effing with, so no Shadowmarks are necessary.

Think of Maven this way: The Nocturnal Daedric Prince is the TG's divine patron. Maven Black Briar is the TG's mortal patron---and its entire board of directors.

Also other TG members will confirm this if you talk to them. You'll find Maven is very well connected with the DB. Definitely not a person to be trifled with--as she's so fond of telling you whenever you run across her in town.

If you make the mistake of looting anything in the Black Briar mansion a TG member, you'll be kicked out of the guild....

are you playing the TG quest where you're trying to restore the TG to its former glory by spreading its influence to the major cities? If not, it looks like the TG shadowmarks work the same way dragon mounds work---they gradually change in their sphere of influence as the game progresses.

I think these thief signs need to be taken with a very large punch of salt. I have been running jobs for Delvin and Vex all evening and one of them involved a burglary at a house with the "protected" sign by the door. I did the job and there was no kick back from the guild.

[IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/xddnl.jpg[/IMG]

Finally, no it's not a shadowmark ,at least it doens't look like the pictures you guys gave at all.

Kinda looks like a sewer hole, I wonder if it has anything to do with when you go into prison an you escape. But then again you can't interact with it an I imagine if you could come out of it; you could go back in lol.

bumping I want answers!