To receive a hallmark components of precious metal must undergo tests carried out by the assay office, this is done to
see if the object content of rare metal meets the conventional requirements of purity. The term hallmark comes from ark
from the Hall of Goldsmiths?in London, who in 1327 were the very first official assay hallmarking office, decreed by
Parliament, to control the conventional of gold and silver circulating within the Uk. To this day they still operate one
of four authorized assay offices in Britain.
Forms of marking rare metal objects were around from the Byzantine
period in early part of the first millennium A.D. However, it was underneath the rule of king Edward I of England, known
as ongshanks?because of his size, that hallmarking was initially established. ongshanks? termed he Hammer?as a result of
his merciless subjugation of Wales and Scotland, was both feared and revered by friend and foe alike.
If you have seen
raveheart?then you're already familiar with the films depiction of Edward ongshanks?like a crazed tyrant: however, in
reality he was more diplomatic. ngshanks?founded the British Parliament in line with the premise of arlez? in the French
verb meaning o talk? where subjects could approach the King to resolve problems. He also reestablished the agna Carta?
and introduced constitutional government passing laws for example o taxation without representation? and therefore no tax
could be levied without consent from the realm and Parliament.
Besides waging wars, fighting crusades, having 16
children along with other sovereignly pursuits, Longshanks also bought into effect one of the first consumer protection
laws, a statute that regulated all Silver jewelry, silverware and silver currency to become manufactured to the standard
of .925 parts pure Silver towards the 1000. This level of purity had been coined terling Silver?under the reign from the
first lantagenet?king, Henry II during the previous century, which is from this period the term ound Sterling?became
symbolic of English currency.
To secure his exacting standards, Edward Longshanks decreed that Silver objects were to
be assayed by uardians of the Craft? who would then mark the approved Sterling Silver items having a leopard's head:
signifying the hallmark of the London assay office still in use today. By the later stages from the 14th Century
hallmarking had been refined to encompass not only the assay office stamp of approval, but the marks of the baby maker
and also the date system allowing the accurate dating of any hallmarked piece.
Three hundred years later, at the turn
of the 17th Century, King George I succeeded towards the English throne. At the moment, England .925 Sterling Silver
coinage had been melted down by less scrupulous craftsmen to make jewelry and ornamentation. You need to, and protect the
intrinsic worth of the currency, King George decreed that a new standard called ritannia?Silver, comprising of .958 parts
Silver to the 1000, was compulsory in the manufacturing of silverware and silver jewelry. If the objects in question,
tested by the assay office, put together to contain England currency standard of .925 parts to the 1000 then your
Silversmith responsible faced a heavy price.
When an article of Silver didn comply with the required standard the assay
offices were ordered to destroy the Silver object and fine the Silversmith. When the Silversmith offended for any second
time, he faced public humiliation within the illory?stocks and was pelted with rotten fruit. If he made it happen again a
limb would be hacked off, and also the persistent offender would eventually be offer death. The explanation for these
Draconian enforcements, the best in quality control, was that the manufacturing of Silver was united with the minting of
currency. Therefore, by debasing these metals a Silversmith was undermining the coin from the realm, a treasonable
offence. However, by 1720 the enforcement from the Britannia standard was pretty much dropped and also the Silver
standard restored.
Using the expansion from the English Empire, and its accumulated trade wealth, other cities beyond
London for example Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester, Chester and Birmingham prospered. Known as the city of the thousand
and something trades Birmingham, located in England midlands, boomed because it embraced the economic Revolution. In 1760
ohn Betts & Sons?opened the very first precious metal refinery in Birmingham Hockley suburb towards the north from the
city.
The foundries attracted many different trades people: gunsmiths, button manufacturers, toy makers, Silversmiths
and jewelers who all established different areas as the center for his or her workshops. However, the Silversmiths still
needed to create a long journey to Chester or London by horse and carriage to have their products assayed. The economic
period resulted in incredible wealth, but it bought poverty to most forcing individuals to commit desperate deeds in
order to survive. A criminal trend within the spirit of Robin Hood, which became very popular, was the impoverished
gentleman act of relieving the nouveaux riche industrialists of their wealth along England highways.
This extract is
obtained from he London Evening Post?article on Plunket and Maclaine robbery of Horace Walpole, writer and son of Sir
Robert Walpole, lord of the treasury and also the English pm, in November 1749. he Man using the Blunderbuss swore he'd
shoot him, if he spoke, bid him provide him his Watch, after which riding up to the Chariot, they took Mr. Walpole Sword,
plus some Silver from the Footman, and rode on Kensington Gate.?
Dick Turpin, Tom King, Captain Gallagher, wift Nick?
Plunket and Maclaine ll became English folk heroes towards the cries of tand and deliver? However, for that likes of
Industrialists for example Mathew Boulton and Birmingham Silversmiths these felons spelt financial ruin. In 1773 after
intense lobbying in London Parliament by Matthew Boulton, owner of Birmingham famous Soho manufactory, permission was
granted for both Birmingham and Sheffield to have their own assay offices.
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