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This should be a very interesting and definitive work on the subject.  Price will increase in June, when we expect delivery.

From the Dust Jacket:

Recent Changes in the hallmarking system have posed a threat to the continuity of the oldest form of consumer protection This book is a timely reminder of the historic past of the hallmark and its evolution from the king's mark of the fourteenth century to the system in operation today.

Concentrating exclusively on the London Assay Office which, as an integral part of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, is the oldest hallmarking authority in the United Kingdom, the author guides the reader through the beginnings of the system which borrowed the best practice from the Continent and thereafter developed its own unique character.

First used in 1300, the king's mark, the leo part, a lion full face, evolved through seven centuries to become the leopard's head which is now associated uniquely with the London Assay Office. The introduction of a date letter system in 1478 gave to English silver a chronological framework second to none and the appointment of an Assayer to work in the Company's Hall gave the word hallmark to the English language.

The development of the system of marks, the changes in those marks and the economic factors which initiated them are charted with meticulous accuracy and attention to detail. From the Goldsmiths' Company's extra-ordinary collection of minute books and archives we follow the life of its membership together with that of the Assayers who worked for it. In the sixteenth century the running battles of Thomas Keeling, the Assayer, with his powerful enemy Sir Richard Martin, a fellow goldsmith, are followed by Alexander Jackson's fight against complaints from the working goldsmiths in the next century. In the time of Paul de Lamerie, Joseph Ward's inattention to the duties of his office in failing to confiscate unmarked plate bound for Russia is in sharp contrast to the conscientious activities of the majority of Assay Masters who sometimes faced considerable threats on city and country searches and in the everyday life of the Assay Office.

Although the vast proportion of gold and silver passed through the office without delay, often pieces were found wanting in their precious metal composition. We learn of the extraordinary lengths to which some goldsmiths went to conceal their wrongdoing. The punishment meted out by the Wardens of the Company was usually fair although initially somewhat severe. A night or two in the Wood Street compter or a day in the Company's stocks with the false goods hung around their neck often hada salutary effect on the most recalcitrant offenders. Suspension from the assay and touch', effectively taking away their livelihood, was rarely used but the threat of it could be used to force the goldsmith to conform.

The author, a chemist by training, brings his knowledge to bear on the development of scientific practices in the process of assaying.  The close links with the Royal Mint and its personnel are emphasized again and again, in particular through the Trial of the Pyx, the periodic testing of the coinage.

This history is flavoured with judicious extracts from the records which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 largely due to the foresight of Sir Charles Doe, a former Prime Warden. Much to the chagrin of Brattle, the Assayer, and the Beadle, he commandeered the cart which they had ordered for their personal belongings and conveyed all the Company's records and treasures to a safe house in Edmonton.

Many of the workers in the Assay Office had formerly traded as silversmiths and goldsmiths and names such as Garthorne, Pyne and Hennell will be familiar to those with knowledge of antique silver.

Originally charged with the duty of testing and marking a relatively small number of articles, the London Assay Office has grown down the centuries into one which handles some five million articles of gold, silver and platinum a year. This book celebrates its history from early times and offers ample evidence that, as the oldest form of consumer protection, the hallmarking system should be allowed to continue into the next century and beyond.

THE AUTHOR

John Forbes is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. He has written numerous articles on the historical and technical aspects of assaying and hallmarking; he has also lectured widely in this country and the USA. Educated at Shrewsbury School he read chemistry at the University of Birmingham, obtaining a first class honours degree. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.Joining the staff of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1946 John Forbes was appointed Deputy Warden (Head of the Assay Office) in 1953,a position he held until his retirement in 1983. An OBE in 1978 was followed by the Distinguished Achievement Award of the International Precious Metals Institute in the following year.