Hall marks on gold & silver plate

INTRODUCTION. xxxix
CHRISTENING BOWLS.
Occasionally a christening bowl is found at a church, but it is
usually quite plain.
SPOONS.
Strainer spoons are sometimes used in churches, but probably
in most cases they are of domestic origin, having the bowl afterwards
pierced for use :n removing anything from the wine.
The greater part of the Communion plate now in use was given
by individuals, and such gifts are frequently recorded in mediaeval
wills. Thus, in 1246, King Henry III gave a chalice to the Church
of All Saints, and smaller vessels to the other parish churches in
the town of Northampton.*
CDrnnatton l^htt.
" A crown of pure gold
on his head"
Psalm xxi, 3.
The English Regalia was generally kept in Westminster Abbey,
though in times of danger it was sometimes removed to the Tower
of London. During the reign of Henry VIII, the Crown jewels were
taken to the Tower, where they are now permanently housed.
The present regalia is but a small portion of what it used to be,
both Kings and Parliaments having helped to disperse it.f
In 1625 King Charles I pawned a great number of the Crown
jewels to Holland, in order to raise money for his wars with Spain.
These included "A greate riche 'Jewell of goulde' called the
'
Mirroiir of Greate Brittaine '" : a gold cup with " The Dreame of
Paris," weighing 120 ounces: the gold cup with "The Morris
Dance," weighing 147 ounces: "The Constable's Cup": and many
more celebrated articles.^ There is no record of these jewels ev^er
having been redeemed.
Again in 1643 ^^e King melted the crown and sceptre; and the
following year the House of Commons issued an order that the
King's plate, then in the Tower, was to be melted down and coined.
The House of Lords remonstrated, alleging
that the beautiful workmanship
of the plate rendered it very valuable, but this was without
effect, and a few years later these beautiful works of art were consigned
to the crucible. Thus unique jewels and plate were destroyed
without mercy, and " the produce employed to buy horses."!!
* Bridge's " Northamptonshire," Vol. I, p. 426.
t Rymer's " Foedera," Vol. XVIII, p. 236.
\ ChafFers's " Gilda Aurifabrorum."
!i Chaffers's "Gilda Aurifabrorum," p. 200.