Hall marks on gold & silver plate

114
HALL MARKS ON PLATE.
That Parliament has recognised the distinction between foreign
and British plate is shown by the provisions of an Act 30 & 31 Vict.,
c. 82, s. 24, which requires all imported plate to be marked before
sale with the letter F in an oval escutcheon, " in order to denote that
such gold or silver plate was imported from foreign parts, and was
not wrought or made in England, Scotland, or Ireland."
Until the practice of <strong>Hall</strong>-marking foreign watch-cases sprang
up, the British <strong>Hall</strong>-<strong>marks</strong> were taken to indicate British workmanship,
and your Committee cannot doubt that foreign watches in
watch-cases so <strong>Hall</strong>-marked are frequently sold as of British manu-
facture. The Committee are therefore of opinion that all foreignmade
watch-cases assayed in this country ought to be impressed with
an additional distinctive mark (the lettei" F, by reason of its resemblance
to existing <strong>marks</strong>, is not sufficiently distinctive) indicative of
foreign manufacture, and that the law ought to be altered accord-
ingly-
The Committee are further of opinion that the Acts now in
force require to be amended in regard to the following matters :
(a) The assaying authorities should be allowed to return imported
articles which are found below standard, instead of breaking them
up, as at present, (b) A dome made of base metal should not exclude
watch-cases from being <strong>Hall</strong>-marked, (c) The assay authori-
ties should have power to mark articles which, though standard,
have enamel or other metals or substances added for the purposes
of ornament only, (d) The lower standards of gold, viz., 15, 12,
and 9 carats (equal respectively to
||ths, ||ths and ^ths of
pure metal), should be discontinued. A composition containing less
than two-thirds of pure metal ought not to be called by the name
of that metal, (e) The whole of the Assay Offices should be placed
under the direct supervision of the Mint, so that uniform standard
of quality shall be guaranteed, (f) So long as a licence duty is
maintained it should be levied at a uniform rate.
It appears that in 1857 a Bill was prepared by the Commissioners
of the Inland Revenue for giving effect to the recommendation
of the Committee of 1856, that the Acts relating to the assaying
of plate should be consolidated into one Act but this Bill was
;
never laid before Parliament. This is to be regretted. There seems
to be a considerable uncertainty in the application of the law in consequence
of the number of statutes in which it is found, and the
Committee now express their opinion that the consolidation and
amendment of the law should be carried out as proposed without
further delay.
A.D. 1883, 46 & 47 Victoria, c. 55.
Section 10 provides for the assaying and stamping of gold and
silver plate imported into Great Britain or Ireland, by an assay office
in the United Kingdom, and that the same shall be assayed and
marked in the same manner as British plate, but with the addition
of the letter F. And this section provides that if the plate is not
of the standard quality, it shall be returned to the Customs authority