Hall marks on gold & silver plate

THE GOLDSMITHS' ORDINANCES. 71
A.D. 1335. 9 Edward III, Stat 2, C. 2. By the statute of
"
money, ]t was ordered : Fir/t it is provided that from henceforth
no Religious Man, nor other, /hall carry any Sterling- out of England,
nor Silver in Plate, nor Wej foi of Gold, nor of Silver, upon
Pain of Forfeiture of the Money, Plate, or Ve//el that he /hall so
carry, without our e/pecial Licence."
" Item, That no Stirling Halfpeny
nor Farthing be molten for to make Ve//el, or any other Thing
by Gold/miths, nor other, upon Forfeiture of the Money /o molton ;
(2) and that the Gold/mith, or other, which hath /o molton /uch
Money, /hall be committed to Pri/on there to remain till he hath
yielded unto us the one half of that that he hath so molton, notwith-
/tanding any Charter or Franchi/e granted or u/ed to the contrary."*
Repealed.
THE GOLDSMITHS' ORDINANCES.
The Company's Ordinance of the year 1336 enjoin, that none
do work gold unless it be as good as the assay of the mystery, or in
silver, unless as good or better than the King's coin or sterling, and
that when done it shall be brought to the <strong>Hall</strong> to be assayed, and
that such as will bear the touch shall be marked "with the owners
and sayers <strong>marks</strong>, and afterwards be touched with the Liberdshede
crowned." It will be observed here that three distinct <strong>marks</strong> are
spoken of (i) the goldsmith's mark, viz., his initials; (2) the assay
mark, probably a letter of the alphabet; and (3) the mark of the
Goldsmiths' <strong>Hall</strong>, a leopard's head crowned.
The earliest records of the Goldsmiths' Company commence in
1334, with the Wardens' Accounts and Court Minutes; and these
books are continued in an almost unbroken sequence until 1636, when
the records of the Court of Assistants begin.
The following notes are taken by the kind permission of Sir
Walter S. Prideaux, from his "Memorials of the Goldsmiths' Com-
pany."
In these minutes the following information is generally given :
The names of the wardens for the year.
The payments given to the increase.
The names of the Poor of the Mystery.
The names of the Apprentices.
The Amerciaments for bad practices.
Amongst the most common frauds in the fourteenth century was
debasing gold by mixing it with glass, and silver by adding lead or
fine sand; and gilding and silvering latten and brass vessels and
passing them off as pure silver false stones also were set in ;
gold and
real stones in copper or latten gilt. Amerciaments surely followed
these practices whenever they were detected; and frequently the
offender was adjudged to the pillory.
* "The Statutes at Large," Vol. I, page 216.