EXAMPLES OF
PROVINCIAL
MARKS

EXETER
CHESTER
NORWICH
YORK
NEWCASTLE
BIRMINGHAM
SHEFFIELD

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PROVINCIAL MARKS

EXETER

Although the records show that Exeter was among the Assay Offices appointed in 1700 by 12 and 13 William, cap. 3 and 4, it is evident that silver was assayed here by the city guild of goldsmiths, as some of the marks found on old silver, indubitably of Exeter origin, belong to the sixteenth century.

We are enabled, by the kindness of Mr. J. H. Ellett Lake of Exeter, to give a very representative selection of Exeter marks, and, in addition, to give illustrations of the pieces themselves in this volume.

It will be seen that the earlier marks date from 1572, and the X surmounted by a crown was the city or hall-mark up to a period as late as 1640. In the early eighteenth century, subsequent to the Act of William III, the hall-mark becomes a castle with the shield divided by a vertical line.

In 1773 a Report was made by a Committee of the House of Commons, who held an inquiry and took evidence as to the manner of conducting the Assay Offices in London, York, Exeter, Bristol, Chester, Norwich, and Newcastle. The Assay Master at Exeter, in describing the method employed at his office, stated that the hall-mark was a castle, and the date letter for 1772 was Z, in Roman character, and that A was to be the letter for the next year, and that the whole alphabet was gone through.

But J, apparently, was never used at Exeter, and in later alphabets no letter after U was used, e.g. A to U (1797 to 1816), etc.

EXETER MARKS

It is not possible in a volume of this size to give all the date letters of provincial offices, but the following may be of use as indicating the letters used at Exeter:—

In regard to the marks illustrated on opposite page it will be seen that the Higher Standard Mark was used at Exeter after 1701. Examples are shown, 1706 and 1714. Collectors have sometimes stumbled into the belief that no silver was allowed by law to be assayed at any other office than London during the period 1697 to 1720. But it is only between 1697 and 1701 that the provincial offices were practically closed. From 1701 till 1720 such offices did assay and mark silver plate with the figure of Britannia, and the lion’s head erased.

EXETER MARKS

Other Exeter Marks illustrated are 1705 (p. 115), 1707 (p. 209), 1728 (p. 273), 1729 (p. 81), 1733 (p. 117).

PROVINCIAL MARKS

CHESTER, NORWICH, AND YORK

The old cathedral cities were the centres of art, therefore it is not surprising to find assay offices established there from the earliest times. Besides Exeter, which we have considered, there were assay offices at Chester, Norwich, and York. It is remarkable that no assay office appears to have existed at Canterbury, nor at Salisbury, nor at Winchester.

Chester has a long history in connexion with the coinage and with assaying silver. In the sixteenth century there is a record of the assay of silver there, and Charles I struck some of his silver coinage there in 1645 with the mint mark of the three wheatsheaves of the city.

Norwich was mentioned as one of the assay towns in 2 Hen. VI, cap. 17, in 1423, which honour it shares with York and Newcastle as being of such ancient lineage. The corporation of Norwich possesses several pieces of plate of the Elizabethan period, with the city arms, a lion, and a castle as a hall-mark. A Tudor rose with a crown above is the standard mark. The office ceased early in the eighteenth century.

York is another office which is now extinct. At the end of the eighteenth century it was not mentioned among the other assay offices, but in the middle of the nineteenth century it had recommenced but did little business, and no plate seems to have been assayed there since about 1870.

The Chester hall-mark down to 1697 is the city arms, viz. a dagger erect between three sheaves of wheat. In 1701 the mark became three demi-lions with wheatsheaves, when Chester was reappointed as one of the assay offices in the reign of William III. The shield was again changed after 1775 to the older form with the dagger which is still in use at the Chester assay office.

We give on the opposite page an example of the mark in 1775, with the three demi-lions superimposed on the shield with the three wheatsheaves. The later mark, of the year 1800, shows the dagger with the wheatsheaves. It will be observed that these marks have the leopard’s head and the lion passant, the hall-mark and the standard-mark of the London office.

The present marks used at the Chester Assay Office, together with the maker’s initials, are the lion passant, the City arms, and the date letter. The letters now in use are Italic capitals commencing with A in 1901. The letter for 1915 is P.

An example is given of Norwich marks stamped on a tall wine-cup, about 1620, of the James I period. The castle and lion is the hall-mark. A Tudor rose surmounted by a crown is also found on Norwich silver as the standard mark. The mark of the orb and cross given opposite is the mark of Peter Peterson the maker.

The York mark prior to 1700 is of a peculiar composite character. It is now held to represent half leopard’s head and half fleur-de-lis conjoined. The example shown is on a flagon in the possession of the Corporation of York, and was made by Marmaduke Best, whose initials are stamped; the letter R is the date letter for 1674. The other example, about 1800, shows the hall-mark with the St. George’s cross and the five diminutive lions. The date-mark was obliterated on this specimen. The maker’s mark is N.G. The duty mark was too worn to reproduce. It will be noticed, as at Chester, the leopard’s head and lion passant are included in the marks.

CHESTER

NORWICH

YORK

PROVINCIAL MARKS

Newcastle-on-Tyne (1702-1884)

Birmingham, Sheffield (1773 to present day)

Newcastle is cited in the Acts of 1423 and 1462 as one of the cities appointed to assay silver. By the Act relating to the Higher Standard, and making it illegal to assay silver elsewhere than London, there is a hiatus after 1696. But the provincial assay offices did not long remain compulsorily idle. They petitioned the House of Commons, and obtained redress. In 1702, 1 Anne, cap. 3 was specially applicable to Newcastle-on-Tyne, and this Act reappointed the town for assaying silver, and it is there on record that “there is, and time out of mind hath been, an ancient Company of Goldsmiths, which, with their families, by the said penalty are like to be ruined, and the trade utterly lost in the said town.”

The Newcastle date letters are as follows:[8]—

The complete Newcastle marks are the Lion passant, the Leopard’s Head, the Town or Hall Mark of Three Castles, the Date Letter, the Maker’s Mark, and the Duty Mark of the Sovereign’s Head (till 1890).

Birmingham and Sheffield were both granted the rights to assay silver in 1773 by 13 Geo. III, cap. 52.

The Birmingham marks are an Anchor, a Lion passant, a Date Letter, and the Maker’s Mark, and the Duty Mark till it was abolished in 1890.

The date alphabets for Birmingham[9] are:—

The Office Year begins 1st July and ends 30th June.

The Sheffield[9] marks are the Lion passant, a Crown, the Date Letter, the Maker’s Mark, and the Sovereign’s Head as the Duty Mark till abolished in 1890.

From 1773 to 1823 the date letters were taken at random. From 1824 to the present day they run in regular order from A to Z.

On small pieces of silver the crown and date letter are on one punch.

The alphabets for Sheffield are:—

The Newcastle marks, 1737, are drawn from a coffee-pot (illustrated page 243). The Date Letter is R in old English capital type.

The Birmingham marks (reproduced opposite) are in date 1804 and 1889. It will be seen that the Duty Mark of Sovereign’s Head is in a broken oval shield.

The Sheffield marks are from candlesticks, that of 1773 being made by Samuel Roberts & Co.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE

BIRMINGHAM

SHEFFIELD

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