Hall marks on gold & silver plate

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HALL MARKS ON PLATE.
and rules are issued instructing the stamping clerk on which particular
part of each piece the punch is to be applied. This established
practice dates from an early period, and was so constant that
any deviation will, to a connoisseur, raise in his mind doubts of the
genuineness of the piece under inspection. From habit, any person
accustomed to examine ancient <strong>Hall</strong>-<strong>marks</strong> knows exactly the position
in which they ought to be placed, and an inexperienced person
will do well to compare a doubtful piece with an undoubted specimen,
and form his judgment accordingly.
Spoons are sometimes found ''
metamorphosed into Postles" by
the addition of a modern statuette of a saint cut from a German
spoon.
In Holland and in Germany spoons are still made in the style
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and recently large quantities
have come into the English market but ; by the <strong>Hall</strong>-<strong>marks</strong> they
are easily recognised, and if not equal to English standard are now
prohibited for sale unless previously stamped at Goldsmiths' <strong>Hall</strong>.
In genuine apostle spoons, the statuette is frequently affixed to
the end of the stem by means of solder, but in a particular manner,
e.g., the end of the stem is filed downwards to a point like the letter
V, and the pedestal of the figure is wedge-shaped to fit closely
into the opening and fastened with solder. Modern additions are
cut straight off and soldered on, usually in a very clumsy and unsatisfactory
manner.
We may here remark that the old-fashioned French pattern
spoons which have been superseded by the modern fiddle-head, instead
of being consigned to the crucible, are purchased by silversmiths
at the melting price, the bowls being chased with fruit and
gilt, and form very elegant spoons for dessert; but of course the
chasing is modern, and not of the date indicated by the <strong>Hall</strong>-mark.
The large old-fashioned plain tea-kettles, teapots and milk-jugs of
the last one hundred and fifty years are in like manner elaborately
chased or engraved by modern artists.
Deception is practised in many other ways. For instance, an
antique silver bas-relief with its <strong>Hall</strong>-mark is soldered into the
centre of a salver, the border being modern and very heavy, the
former weighing perhaps no more than five or six ounces, and worth
40s. to 50s. per oz., the latter twenty or thirty ounces, made at a cost
of about 8s. per oz. The new <strong>Hall</strong>-mark is erased, leaving only the
old one visible, and the purchaser is deceived, thinking the whole
salver is antique.
In old times the Beef-eaters (as they are termed) of the Tower,
when in their pride of office, with the old Stuart costume, wore on
their left arm a large silver badge or cognisance, having the arms of
the ordnance (three mounted cannons) in a handsome scroll border,
of oval form. From motives
measuring about ten inches by eight,
of economy the late administration ordered these emblems to be
sold for their intrinsic value. The purchaser having about twenty
of these silver medallions conceived the idea, in preference to melt-