Hall marks on gold & silver plate

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE ASSAY OFFICE. 305
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.
The arms of the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne are Gtdes^
three towers triple-towered argent.
At Newcastle-upon-Tyne as early as 1249, Henry III commanded
the bailiffs and good men to choose four of the most prudent
and trusty men of their town for the office of moneyers there,
and other four like persons for keeping the King's Mint in that town ;
also two fit and prudent goldsmiths to be assayers of the money
to be made there.
By the Act of 1423 this town was appointed one of the seven
provincial assay towns in England. In 1536, the goldsmiths were
by an ordinary, incorporated with the plumbers and glaziers, and
the united company required to go together, on the feast of Corpus
Christi, and maintain their play of the "Three Kings of Coleyn."
They were to have four wardens, viz., one goldsmith, one plumber,
one glazier, and one pewterer or painter, and it is quaintly added
that no Scotchman born should be taken apprentice or suffered to
work in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They had their hall in "Maden
Tower" granted them in the mayoralty of Sir Peter Riddell in 1619,
and the association of the goldsmiths
with the other tradesmen
seems to have lasted till 1702.*
This town was reappointed as an assay town by the Act of 1701.
The annual letter appears to have been used from 1702. Mr.
Thomas Sewell, one of the Wardens of the Assay Office, has kindly
furnished us with a Table of Date Letters, chronologically ar-
ranged, compiled from the Assay Office books and the copperplate
on which the maker strikes his initials, as well as from pieces of old
plate which have from time to time come under his notice. From
careful examination of various examples of Newcastle plate, we
have altered some of the characters, making the table more complete.
The change of letter took place on May 3 in each year.
In 1773 the members of the Goldsmiths' Company
at Newcastleupon-Tyne
were : Mr. John Langlands and Mr. John Kirkup, Goldsmiths
and Silversmiths, Wardens; and Mr. Matthew Prior, As-
sayer.
The names and places of abode of all the goldsmiths, silversmiths
and plate-workers then living, who had entered their names
and <strong>marks</strong>, were : Mr. John Langlands, Mr. John Kirkup, Mr.
Samuel James, Mr. James Crawford, Mr. John Jobson, Mr. James
Hetherington (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), Mr. John Fearney (Sunder-
land), and Mr. Samuel Thomson (Durham).
The Assay Office at Newcastle was closed in May, 1884, in con-
sequence of there being insufficient work to make it worth keeping
open. The Assay Master of the Office before 1854 was Mr. F. Som-
* From an "Impartial History of the Town and County of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne," published in 1801, page 429.