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Author	Topic: british marking question
cbc58 Posts: 341 Registered: Aug 2008	posted 03-07-2018 09:00 AM This may seem like an odd question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Who put the formal hallmarks on British silver items? Did the silversmith do it? Or did the maker put their mark on items and then haul everything down to the assay office and they put the rest on? Or did someone come to their shop to do it? IP: Logged
asheland Posts: 935 Registered: Nov 2003	posted 03-07-2018 10:43 AM The actual hallmarks are applied at the Goldsmith's hall, however, I always thought that the maker's mark was applied by the silversmith at their shop, but I have recently seen evidence that says otherwise. I too would like to hear what other members have to say about this... IP: Logged
cbc58 Posts: 341 Registered: Aug 2008	posted 03-13-2018 12:59 PM Here is a link to an explanation I found online. Looks like both may be correct depending on age and location. IP: Logged
agleopar Posts: 850 Registered: Jun 2004	posted 03-14-2018 11:04 PM Cbc58, The article covers it well and I can only add that in the '70's for 5 years I had the pleasure of being registered, or rather my mark was, at Goldsmiths Hall. This meant that I would make something and then jump on my bike and drop it off to be hall marked. One was given the choice of keeping the sponsors mark (the real title of the makers mark because often, like Hester Bateman, the person or business getting the marks was not the actual maker) or letting the Hall keep it. If you choose to keep it then you placed it where you liked and the Hall put on the three or four other marks. If the hall kept it then all marks were placed by them. It was done for a fee and could be rushed through for an extra charge. It usually took 3-4 days sometimes longer at Christmas for instance. It was always a bit of a lottery of wether the marks would be done well or in the place you wanted. It took a bit of time after to "set" the marks, meaning clean up and make them right. It was very freeing and time saving to come home to America and not have to deal with the whole rigamarole! But having said that it also is lovely to look at work from that time and know the year as well as have the look of those ancient marks on your work. IP: Logged
cbc58 Posts: 341 Registered: Aug 2008	posted 03-16-2018 11:09 AM Agleopar - thank you for your post. The fact that you had to bring your works to the Hall to get marked is interesting. I wonder if silversmiths ever worried that their works might get damaged when the marks were applied. I can't imagine that every piece was assayed for purity and how would they have done that anyway without damaging an item? Do you know what they would have done to an item if it was found not to meet the sterling standard? Would they have melted it on the spot or marked it somehow? So a silversmith makes an item, may or may not put their markers mark on it - gets it tested for purity and then the other marks are applied. I have a couple of bottom marked spoons where the marks have to have been applied during production (assume this due to the way they are distended) - so guessing that during that point in history they would get things marked during fabrication and not after ?? Anyone know? Tks. Edit: just read a passage in a book that said finished goods would be sent in for hallmarking, and items bottom marked. They would then go back to the silversmith who would have to rework the piece to smooth out damage done when putting on the marks. [This message has been edited by cbc58 (edited 03-16-2018).] IP: Logged
agleopar Posts: 850 Registered: Jun 2004	posted 03-17-2018 10:38 PM It's not so much that things get damaged but deformed slightly by the force of the hammer strike to the mark. And yes it was a worry especially on small or delicate things. Often a complex object would be sent to the hall in pieces so that when they were scraped (all components are separately tested) they each could be cleaned up before soldering together. I never experienced a failed assay. Those that did had their work destroyed (big hammer, they said) unless they said that they we're not going to sell it. The smith would then go back to the refiner they had bought the sterling sheet from and the refiner would replace it no questions asked because it was considered a death sentence to the refiner if it got around the trade that they were selling sub par silver. IP: Logged

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