The system of British hallmarks dates back a few centuries, but the concept of hallmarking dates back thousands of years, to the time when coins first emerged as currency. Individually stamped by local officials, those early coins would have been made of electrum (a mix of gold and silver) or silver, and the stamp would denote the purity of the metal, which in turn attested to its value. It was much later that base metal coins represented far greater values, effectively acting as tokens rather than carrying their actual value in their make-up.
From the earliest times one of the problems with currency losing its value was the clipping of coins, where the unscrupulous would harvest minute amounts of silver from the edge of individual coins stamped for a specific value. Eventually they would have enough silver to either mint new coins or make other valuable items. However, this also meant that the currency in circulation depreciated in value. The authorities put a stop to this trick in the reign of Charles II by introducing lettering around the edge of coins.
If debasement of the coinage – as even happened officially under Henry VIII to save money – was an age-old problem, so was debasement of objects made from precious metals. How did you know that the ring or goblet you bought was pure gold or silver, and not made from something cheaper, mixed in with a little of the precious metal to give it the appearance of something more valuable?
In England, King Edward I started to tackle the problem by introducing a law in 1300 making it compulsory for all silver objects to meet a sterling silver standard of 92.5% purity. To ensure this, he ordered that objects passing an official test or ‘assay’ should be marked with a leopard’s head.
Edward’s grandson, Edward III, granted a charter to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths 27 years later, and all objects made from gold had to be sent to the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London for assaying and approval. Hence the word ‘hallmark’.
Regional assay offices in England for silver were set up later in Sheffield, Birmingham, York, Exeter, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich and Chester. In Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow had assay offices, and in Ireland there was an office in Dublin. Sheffield, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Dublin survive. Of the others, some (Chester and Glasgow) lasted well into the 20th century, while others (Norwich, closed 1702) have been long gone.
