Hall marks on gold & silver plate

THE STANDARD. 119
Sterling or standard silver contains f| of pure silver and ^5%
of alloy. Silver coins are usually alloyed with copper in the above
proportions, but gold coins, being sometimes alloyed with silver
alone, sometimes with silver and copper together, no two sovereigns
are of exactly the same colour, the former being of a pale gold, the
latter more red. So long as the bars of gold sent to the Mint to be
coined contain the correct proportion of pure gold, the nature of the
alloy is not a matter of importance to the moneyer.
Pure gold and silver are invariable in their qualities, from whatever
mines they are produced.
The <strong>marks</strong> for gold of 22 karats and for silver of 1 1 oz. 2 dwts.,
were, up to the year 1844, the same; hence a great facility was afforded
to fraud, and, consequently, many instances occurred. An
article of silver of the standard above named, being duly assayed
and marked, had only to be gilt, and who but those more skilled
than ordinary purchasers could say it was not gold ?
This was changed by 7 & 8 Vict., c. 22, s. 15, which required
that all wares of 22 karat gold should be marked with a "crown
and the figures 22, instead of the mark of the lion passant," but the
operation
of this Act did not extend to Scotland or Ireland.
A lower standard of gold was allowed by an Act, 38 Geo. Ill,
c. 69, 1798, which was marked with a crown and the figures 18, instead
of the lion passant.
In 1854, 17 & 18 Victoria, still lower qualities of gold wares
were allowed to be made, of 15, 12, and 9 karats pure gold in 24:
stamped with the figures denoting the fineness, without the crown
and Queen's head, but not without payment of duty.
Gold and silver wares may be assayed at any lawful Assay
Office wherever manufactured, without being liable to any forfeiture
or penalty imposed by any previous Act.
(No particular standard named in this Act, but to be directed
by an order from the Privy Council.) This Act is in force throughout
the United Kingdom.
The Goldsmiths' Company have unfortunately no jurisdiction
over the manufacture of jewellery, hence the spurious nature of a
great proportion of the jewellery sold in England; and there is no
real security to the public unless the articles have the <strong>Hall</strong>-mark;
or wanting this, purchasers should insist on having the quality of
the gold written plainly on the invoice as a guarantee of its genuineness,
not only whether it is gold, for this admits of a wide interpretation,
but the quality of it is expressed in numerals, as equal to
22, 18, 15, 12, or 9 karats. Provided with such an invoice, they have
always their remedy against the jeweller.*
* From the following passage in the " Comedy of Errors" (Act iy, Sc. 1,
1. 27) we find that it was the custom in England, in Shakespeare's time, for
the goldsmith to place on his invoice the weight, the standard, and the charge
for fashion. Angelo the Goldsmith says :
" Here's the note
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat.
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion."
We quote this passage as given in most of the editions, which as it stands