Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/317

 ON THE ASSAY MARKS ON GOLD AND SILVER PLATE. 211 agree with tJic period of the work. Again, plate given to public bodies having been worn out, has been remade at subsequent periods, or exchanged for more useful articles, and the original date has been engraved on the new made piece. I will give one instance in illustration : One of the loving cups of the Goldsmiths' Company goes by the name of " Hanbury's Cup," and bears engraved on it the record of its having been the gift of Richard Hanbury, in 1G08. The form and workmanship of the cup is clearly of the period of Charles II., and that was confirmed by the Annual Letter. This perplexed me till, in searching the books of the Company, I found by accident a memorandum stating that " Hanbury's Cup, wx'ight 60 oz., was sold with other plate in 1637, and re-made in 1666," which date agrees exactly with the annual letter. The earliest piece of plate with a mark that I have met with, is the spoon of Henry VI. It was given by the King, together with his boots and gloves, to Sir Ralph Pudsey, of liolton Hall, after the battle of Hexham, in 1463. These relics have been carefully treasured ever since, and are now preserved by Pudsey Dawson, Esq., at his seat, Ilornbey Castle, in Westmoreland. Of the genuineness of this spoon there is no doubt ; the head of the handle is octagonal, somewhat resembling the capital of a Gothic shaft, and on the flat top is engraved a single rose, the badge of the King. The spoon is of the usual form of ancient spoons, and the marks thereon are as follows : — inside the bowl is stamped the leopard's head, and all the ancient English spoons previous to the Restoration which I have seen are so marked. On the back of the stem is stamped with a punch a small heart ^ which I consider to be the worker's mark, and above that is the annual letter j]^ also stamped with a punch. This, according to my conjectural calculation, will give the spoon the date 1445, which agrees well with its form, character, and history. With the exception of two cycles of twenty years I have obtained examples of all the various alphabets used since the year 1438 ; and, for the reason I am about to give, I am disposed to think that that date was the period of the first adoption of the annual letter. I hope soon to be able to commence the series, and give all the alphabets in a tabular form. It will be remembered in the extracts from the proceedings