Hall marks on gold & silver plate

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HALL MARKS ON PLATE.
III. THE DUTY MARK.
The Sovereign's Head, first used in 1807 to denote the payment
of duty on silver and on the higher standards of gold of 22,
20 and 18 karats; but not on the lower gold of 15, 12 and 9 karats,
although paying the same duty. Discontinued on silver in 1890.
IV. THE MAKER'S MARK.
Formerly some device, with or without the initials of the goldsmith;
later the initials of his Christian and surname.
v. THE DATE MARK.
The time appointed for the letter to be changed, and the new
punches put in commission, is May 29 or 30 in every year; but this
date has not been strictly adhered to, the changes having been made
at various later periods in some years.
From 1638, the year in which the Communion flagon was given
by Moses Hill to Trinity College, Dublin, the fact is clearly established,
confirmed also by the Charter granted by Charles I on
December 22, 1638, that a Roman letter for that year was adopted,
commencing with A. No other examples between 1638 and 1679
have come under our notice, but in the latter year we have a chalice
with the Old English 18, followed in 1680 by the tankard preserved
in the Merchant Taylors' Company, bearing an Old English (5,
Following the order of the alphabet, plate was doubtless stamped
down to 1686, finishing with J.
The unsettled state of Ireland during the next six years will
account for the cessation of work at the Dublin Assay Office. In
1693 the letter 3^ (next in succession) was adopted, and continued
alphabetically down to fl in 1700. At this time the Act of William
III, in 1700, reappointing the provincial offices for adopting the
new or Britannia standard, and making it imperative on all the
provincial offices to discontinue the old, may have operated in Dublin,
where the new standard was never made, so that a few years
may have elapsed before work was resumed. It appears,
from no
examples having been discovered during this period, that in 17 10
the <strong>Hall</strong> recommenced stamping old standard plate with the letter
^, next in succession (the top of the shield being escalloped), down
to Z in 1 7 17, thus completing the Old English alphabet.
In 171 8 a new alphabet was commenced, and as we have met
with two court-hand letters A and C, whilst Mr. W. J. Cripps (" Old
English Plate," edition 1878, page 419) gives a letter B in the same
hand (although no authority is quoted in his list of specimens), we
have adopted his suggestion, which is probably correct, viz., that
they represented the years 1718, 17 19 and 1720.