Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/315

 ON THE ASSAY MAHKS OX GOLD AND SILVER TLATE. 239 be set Oil tlic works after they had been assayed. This was enforced in almost every subsequent statute, in which it is often styled the " Mark or Sig7i " of the worker. These marks were at first emblems or symbols, as a bird, or other animal, a cross, a rose, heart, or flower ; probably often selected in allusion to the name of the maker. In early times most shops had signs by w^hicli they were known, and some retain the custom even to the present day, especially on the Continent. This probably arose from the fact, that as few persons could read, the writing of the name would be of little use, w-hcrcas the setting up of some sign, such, for instance, as the golden ball, which was easily understood, gave a convenient name to the shop ; it is, therefore, not improbable that the goldsmiths in some cases took for their mark, the sign of their shop. Sometimes, however, letters were used as the worker's mark. The earliest piece of plate which I have seen is the spoon of Henry VI., of which I shall speak presently more at length ; it has the figure of a heart C> stamped on it, and most of the earlier pieces of plate have similar symbols. At Goldsmiths' Hall is preserved in the Assay Office, a large copper plate stamped in columns with a vast variety of these marks, some large and some of smaller, for pieces of plate of different sizes. These consist chiefly of emblems or symbols, as birds, flowers, &c. It seems to have been a plate on which the makers were obhged to strike their marks, but there is no reference to any book, nor is anything certain known respecting its age, but there is a tradition that it was preserved from the great fire of London, in 1666. It would be very desirable that this plate should be copied, and lithographed or engraved, and by thus having ready access to the marks thereon, some might be found on pieces of ancient plate, and thus its ago determined. It is probable that some confusion had arisen from several persons adopting the same symbol, for we find that in 1696-7 it w^as enacted that the worker's mark should consist of the two first letters of his surname ; and in 1739, by the 12th George II., this was changed to the initial letters of his Christian and surname. Were a large collection of these marks made, it might be possible, by the examination of ancient inventories, where the names of workers and artists are mentioned, as well as some peculiar marks on the plate, to identify some of the marks with the workers who used them.