Hall marks on gold & silver plate

NEW STANDARD OF SILVER AND MARKS. 85
NEW STANDARD OF SILVER (OF 11 oz. 10 dwts.).
AND MARKS.
A.D. 1696. 8 & 9 William III, c. 8, s. i. Enacts that any persons
that shall bring any sort of wrought plate, between January i,
1696, and November 4, 1697, into any of his Majesty's mints, etc.,
shall be paid 5s. 4.6.. per ounce for the same; and that the master
and worker of the mints shall receive all such wrought plate, which
shall plainly appear to have thereon the mark commonly used at
the <strong>Hall</strong>, belonging to the Company of Goldsmiths in London,
besides the workman's mark, as sterling silver, without tarrying till
it be melted and assayed. And where the wrought plate so brought,
shall not have the said <strong>marks</strong> thereon, then the party bringing such
plate shall have the same forthwith melted and assayed, and shall
be allowed 5s. 4d. per ounce for every ounce of sterling silver found
therein.
"
Cap. 8, Sect. 9. And whereas it may rea/onably be /u/pected,
that Part of the Silver Coins of this Realm hath been, by Persons
regarding their own private Gain more than the publick Good,
molten and converted into Ve//els of Silver or other manufactured
Plate, which Crime hath been the more ea/ily perpetrated by them,
in regard the Goldsmiths or others. Workers of Plate, by the former
Laws and Statutes of this Realm, are not obliged to make their
Plate of Finer Silver than the Sterling or Standard ordained for
the Monies of this Realm. Be it therefore enacted by the Authority
afore/aid. That from and after the five and twentieth Day of March
one thou/and /ix hundred ninety-/even, no Gold/mith, Silver-
/mith, or other per/on what/oever, /hall work or make, or cau/e to
be wrought or made, any Silver Ve//el, Plate, or Manufacture of
Silver, le/s in Finene/s than that of eleven Ounces and ten Peny
Weight of fine Silver in every Pound Troy, nor put to /ale, exchange,
or /ell, any Silver Ve/fels, Plate, or Manufacture of Silver madeafter
the /aid five and twentieth Day of March (unle/s it be Silver
Wire, or /uch Things as in respect of their Smallne/s are not capable
of receiving a Mark) until /uch Time as /uch Ve//el, Plate or Manufactured
Silver, /hall be marked as followeth (that is to /ay) with
the Worker's Mark, to be expre//ed by the two fir/t Letters of his
Surname, the Marks of the My/tery or Craft of the Gold/miths,
which, in/tead of the Leopard's Head and the Lion, /hall for this
Plate be the Figure of a Lion's Head era/ed, and the Figure of a
Woman, commonly called Britannia, and a di/tinct variable Mark
to be u/ed by the Warden of the /aid My/tery, to denote the Year
in which /uch Plate is made; upon Pain that all /uch Silver Ve//els,
Plate, or other manufactured Silver, which /hall be made, exposed
to /ale, /old, or exchanged, contrary to this Act, or the Value thereof,
/hall be forfeited, the one Half thereof to the King, and the other
Half thereof, to such Per/on or Persons that will /eize or /ue for
the /ame, to be recovered by Action, Bill, Suit, or Information, in
any Court of Record, wherein no E//oin, Protection, Wager of Law,