Hall marks on gold & silver plate

PRICE OF GILT SILVER LIMITED. 75
"In 141 4, one John of Rochester, was taken by the master of the
trade of goldsmiths there for counterfeiting mazer bonds in copper
and brass plated over with silver, or gilded, and brought up to Lon-
don, having sold them within the City."
These cases show that the Goldsmiths' Company then had jurisdiction
not only in the Metropolis, but elsewhere within the kingdom
of England.*
CUTLERS AND GOLDSMITHS.
A.D. 1405. A contest happened between the companies of the
goldsmiths and cutlers, with regard to certain privileges, claimed by
the former, of inspecting all the gold and silver work made by the
latter. At length the goldsmiths appealed to the Parliament, and by
the authority of the king, the affair was referred to the Lord Mayor
of London, who, having carefully examined into the same, reported,
that according to the ancient immunities of the City, the cutlers had
a right to work in gold and silver; but that all things made by them
were to be assayed by the goldsmiths ; whereupon the Goldsmiths'
Charter was confirmed by Parliament, and additional privileges were
granted.
PRICE OF GILT SILVER LIMITED.
A.D. 1 41 4. 2 Henry V, s. 2, c. "
4. Item, for that the Gold/miths
of England, of their Covin and Ordinances, will not /ell the Wares
of their My/tery gilt, but at the double Price of the Weight of the
Silver of the /ame, which /eemeth to the King very outrageous and
too exce//ive a Price, (2) the King, for the Ea/e of his People, willing
to remedy the /ame, hath ordained and e/tabli/hed, That all the
Goldsmiths of England /hall gild no Silver wor/e than of the Allay
of the Englijh Sterling, and that they take for a Pound of
Troy^
gilt but Forty-/ix /hillings and eightpence at the mo/t, (3) and of
greater Weight, and le//, according to the Quantity and Rate of the
/ame Sum : and that which /hall be by them gilt from henceforth
shall be of rea/onable Price, and not exce//ive, (4) and if any Gold-
/mith do contrary to this statute, he /hall forfeit to the King the
Value of the Thing so /old."t REPEALED.
A.D. 1420. 8 Henry V, c. 3. "Item, that none from henceforth
/hall gild any Sheaths, nor Metal, but Silver, and the Ornaments of
holy Church; (2) nor /hall /ilver no Metal but Knights Spurs, and
all the Apparel that pertaineth to a Baron, and above that E/tate :
upon Pain of Forfeiture to the King
ten Times as much as the
Thing /o gilt is of Value, and /hall have al/o one Year's Imprison-
* Memorials of the Goldsmiths' Company.
t " The Statutes at Large," Vol. I, page 499.