oy, namely, 'gold of a
certain _touch_,' and silver of the sterling alloy; and no vessel is to
depart out of the hands of the workman until it is assayed by the
workers of the Goldsmiths' craft.

"The _Hall mark_ shows where manufactured, as the Leopard's head for
London. _Duty mark_ is the head of the Sovereign, showing the duty is
paid. _Date mark_ is a letter of the alphabet, which varies every year;
thus, the Goldsmiths' Company have used, from 1716 to 1755, Roman
capital letters; 1756 to 1775, small Roman letters; 1776 to 1795, old
English letters; 1796 to 1815, Roman capital letters, from A to U,
omitting J; 1816 to 1835 small Roman letters a to u, omitting j; from
1836, old English letters. There are two qualities of gold and silver.
The inferior is mostly in use. The quality marks for silver are
Britannia, or the head of the reigning monarch; for gold, the lion
passant, 22 or 18, which denotes that fine gold is 24-carat; 18 only 75
per cent, gold; sometimes rings are marked 22. The _manufacturer's mark_
is the initials of the maker.

"The Company are allowed 1 per cent., and the fees for stamping are paid
into the Inland Revenue Office. At Goldsmiths' Hall, in the years 1850
to 1863 inclusive, there were assayed and marked 85 22-carat
watch-cases, 316,347 18-carat, 493 15-carat, 1550 12-carat, 448 9-carat,
making a total of 318,923 cases, weighing 467,250 ounces 6 dwts. 18
grains. The Goldsmiths' Company append a note to this return, stating
that they have no knowledge of the value of the cases assayed, except
of the intrinsic value, as indicated by the weight and quality of the
gold given in the return. The silver watch-cases assayed at the same
establishment in the fourteen years, 1,139,704, the total weight being
2,302,192 ounces 19 dwts. In the year 1857 the largest number of cases
were assayed out of the fourteen. The precise number in that year was
106,860, this being more than 10,000 above any year in the period named.
In a subsequent year the number was only 77,608. A similar note with
regard to value is appended to the return of silver cases as to the
gold." There has been a complaint lately that the inferior jewellery is
often tampered with after receiving the Hall mark.

An old book, probably Elizabethan, the "Touchstone for Goldsmith's
Wares," observes, "That goldsmiths in the City and liberties, as to
their particular trade, are under the Goldsmiths' Company's control,
whether members or not, and