64 Sentences With "hallmarking" | Random Sentence Generator

Poor consumer sentiment, a lackluster economic backdrop and hallmarking regulations all weighed on demand, the WGC said.

India has been trying to bring transparency in bullion trading by curbing cash transactions and making hallmarking of jewellery and artefacts mandatory.

At the Master Bullion Assaying & Hallmarking Lab in the heart of the gold district, superheated crucibles melt elaborate bangles and earrings into bars a central banker might recognise.

Families that hold about 80 percent of the idle gold have largely shunned the scheme, with some four dozen government-approved centers that opened to test purity still to process a single gram of household gold, said Harshad Ajmera, president of the Indian Association of Hallmarking Centres.

BIS introduced hallmarking for silver jewellery in December 2005 under IS 2112, the standard specification for 'Hallmarking of Silver Jewellery/Artefacts'.

The Act made business transactions involving unmarked metals illegal. Trading Standards departments are responsible for enforcing the Act. Another notable consequence of the Act was the formation of the British Hallmarking Council (BHC). This council is responsible for advising the Secretary of State in matters of hallmarking, making certain the UK has acceptable hallmarking facilities, and overseeing the Assay Offices so they follow the legal hallmarking standards.

The mandatory status of hallmarking gold jewellery sold in India, although declared, is yet to be implemented. It will mandatory across the country from January 15, 2021.The Hindu. 'Hallmarking of gold made mandatory'.

Argentium's patents refer to percentages of zinc and boron present in Argentium silver. Both Argentium alloys exceed the standard required for hallmarking as sterling silver and Argentium silver 960 meets the standard for hallmarking as Britannia silver (95.84% silver).

This means that re-finishing of the article is required after hallmarking. For this reason, and that off-cuts from sprues are often used for assay, many articles are sent unfinished to the assay office for assay and hallmarking.

There is one assay office in Praha. Assay Office was established by the Czech National Council Law No. 19/1993 Coll., concerning the Administration Authorities of the Czech Republic in the Field of Hallmarking and Precious Metal Testing, from which the Assay Office competences and duties are resulting. The provision of the financing is included in the Law about Hallmarking and Precious Metal Testing (Hallmarking Act), No. 539/1992 Coll.

The Hallmarking Act 1973 makes up the bulk of modern law regarding the assaying and hallmarking of metals in the United Kingdom. Hallmarking is a way to guarantee the purity of precious metals. Metals are tested and, if they meet a certain minimal purity requirement, are marked with a specified seal. In the United Kingdom (UK), this is done by the Assay Offices in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Edinburgh.

The British Hallmarking Council (BHC) is the organisation responsible for supervising hallmarking in the United Kingdom. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The BHC was created under the Hallmarking Act 1973 to oversee the activities of the four remaining assay offices (located in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh). The costs of its operations are met entirely by the four offices.

In 1424, the French cardinal Jean de Brogny, after consulting a council of eight Master Goldsmiths from Geneva, enacted a regulation on the purity and hallmarking of silver objects (following the French standards) for application in Geneva. Although gold was used for articles, the regulation was silent on standards and hallmarking for gold. In Switzerland today, See also: only precious metal watch cases must be hallmarked.Swiss Customs The hallmarking of other items including silverware and jewelry is optional.

The council has made many important contributions concerning UK hallmarking procedures. In 1992, the European Commission proposed a Directive meant to cover hallmarking. The BHC examined the document and found multiple areas of ambiguity and deficiency. When the European Parliament voted on the Council’s recommendations, many were approved.

The Hallmarking Regulations 1998 and The Hallmarking Order 1998 caused the legitimisation of hallmarks of other member states (those countries that ratified the Convention on the Control of Articles of Precious Metals of 1972). The council was responsible for clearing up ambiguous statements in the regulations and for extending its definition to deal with other problems in the hallmarking law. Some of these changes include seven additional standards of fineness, a change in the standard mark, and the dropping of the date requirement on marked metals.

EFTA also originated the Hallmarking Convention and the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention, both of which are open to non-EFTA states.

In 1968, at the very beginning of her career, Burton won the De Beers International Award for the design of diamond jewellery. In 1995, Burton won the United Kingdom Jeweller Award for best design in silver. Burton had the first piece of platinum to be hallmarked at the London Assay Office in 1973 when hallmarking for platinum was introduced under the Hallmarking Act of 1973 and platinum became a recognized metal under the Vienna Convention on the Control of the Fineness and the Hallmarking of Precious Metal Objects. This piece is at Goldsmiths' Hall.

Many nations require, as a prerequisite to official hallmarking, that the maker or sponsor itself marks upon the item a responsibility mark and a claim of fineness. Responsibility marks are also required in the US if metal fineness is claimed, even though there is no official hallmarking scheme there. Nevertheless, in nations with an official hallmarking scheme, the hallmark is only applied after the item has been assayed to determine that its purity conforms not only to the standards set down by the law but also with the maker's claims as to metal content.

Hallmarking first appeared in France, with the Goldsmiths' Statute of 1260 promulgated under Etienne Boileau, Provost of Paris, for King Louis IX.

This persisted until 1907, when a requirement for hallmarking to be done in Britain, after which the Swiss changed to a 925 alloy.

Other nations monitor the activities of the Convention and may apply for membership. Complete international hallmarking has been plagued by difficulties, because even amongst countries which have implemented hallmarking, standards and enforcement vary considerably, making it difficult for one country to accept another's hallmarking as equivalent to its own. While some countries permit a variance from the marked fineness of up to 10 parts per thousand, others do not permit any variance (known as negative tolerance) at all. Many nations abide by the Vienna system and procedures are in place to allow additional nations to join the Vienna Convention.

The bottom example bears the Yorkshire rose mark for the Sheffield Assay Office. The Hallmarking Act was amended in July 2009 to include palladium from January 2010.

The Dutch (the Netherlands), who are members of the International Hallmarking Convention, have been striking hallmarks since at least 1814, and boast a 600-year history of hallmarking in Dutch territories. Like many other nations, the Dutch require the registration and use of Responsibility Marks since 1797. The Dutch also use a date letter code. After the French defeat at Leipzig 1813 the Kingdom of the Netherlands was established.

XRF machine for gold purity testing XRF Machine being used in hallmarking centre for analysis of gold purity The BIS hallmark is a hallmarking system for gold as well as silver jewellery sold in India certifying the purity of the metal.National Institute of Open Schooling. 'Wise Buying.' It certifies that the piece of jewellery conforms to a set of standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the national standards organization of India.

But it has a wide acceptance among consumers. This often leads to fake hallmarking of jewellery which is under the regular scrutiny of the bureau.The Hindu. 'Hallmarked gold under BIS scanner'.

The testing of the jewellery as well as the marking is done in approved Assaying & Hallmarking Centres across the nation. These are private undertakings approved as well as monitored by the BIS.

Hallmarking is Europe's earliest form of consumer protection. Modern hallmarking in Europe appears first in France, with the Goldsmiths Statute of 1260 promulgated under Etienne Boileau, Provost of Paris, for King Louis IX. A standard for silver was thus established. In 1275, King Philip III prescribed, by royal decree, the mark for use on silver works, along with specific punches for each community's smiths. In 1313, his successor, Philippe IV "the Fair" expanded the use of hallmarks to gold works.

Assay offices did and do exist in the U.S., but they are affiliated with the government's coinage mints and serve only the government's purposes in that field. They are not involved in hallmarking, as there has never been a hallmarking scheme in the U.S. In the 1800s, the functions of assay offices in the U.S. included receiving bullion deposits from the public and from mining prospectors in the various American territories. The assay offices that still operate today function solely within national coining system (including bullion coinage for sales to investors).

Raw precious metals (bullion) are assayed by an assay office. Silver is assayed by titration, gold by cupellation and platinum by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES).The Hallmarking Process. The Goldsmiths' CompanyWaarborgHolland, Europe's No. 1 Assay Office . waarborg.

Dutch hallmarks are recognized in Austria, France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom without further testing and have also been recognized in Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, which have voluntary hallmarking systems. All jewelry produced in the Netherlands or imported for the Dutch market must carry hallmarks.

Base metals oxidize and absorb into the cupel. The product of this cupellation (doré) is flattened and treated in nitric acid to remove silver. Precision weighing of metal content of samples and process controls (proofs) at each process stage is the basis of the extreme method precision. European assayers follow bullion traditions based in hallmarking regulations.

The second from the left shows the anchor for Birmingham. The anchor mark no longer indicates that an item was assayed in Birmingham. In July 2016 Birmingham Assay Office began striking its hallmark via a subsidiary in Mumbai, India. In 2018 the British Hallmarking Council announced that hallmarks struck overseas must be different from domestic hallmarks.

Ari Norman has long been an advocate for the hallmarking system and has promoted the system globally. Norman travelled the world explaining the hallmarking system so that clients could understand the craftsmanship and quality that a hallmark signifies. The system is the oldest form of consumer protection in existence. All the silver produced by Ari D Norman Ltd bears the full British Hallmark with the exception of pieces too small or too delicate to bear it, in which case they are marked 925. When Ari D Norman Ltd became the first British silversmith to receive the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, to recognise the achievement and the fact that Ari Norman had been one of the most vocal advocates of the system globally, the Queen’s Award Mark was applied as an additional hallmark to their silver items.

Only precious metal watch cases must be hallmarked in Switzerland. Swiss hallmarking for other articles such as jewelry and cutlery is optional. In addition to the Swiss hallmark, all precious metal goods may be stamped with the Common Control Mark of the Vienna Convention. Switzerland recognizes platinum, gold, silver and palladium as precious metals which may be hallmarked and thus are subject to assay.

There is one assay office at Aradippou. The Law governing the marking of precious metal articles has been ratified by the House of Representatives in 1991, creating a new semi-Governmental Organisation, the Cyprus Organisation for the Hallmarking of precious metals. The Cyprus Assay Office (CAO) is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. The Cyprus Hallmark consists of three compulsory symbols: 1.

It is said that the choice of symbol was made on the toss of a coin which resulted in Birmingham adopting the Anchor and Sheffield the Crown (which was changed in 1977 to the White Rose of York). Services provided by the office include nickel testing, metal analysis, plating thickness determination, bullion certification, consultancy and gem certification. Platinum was brought within the Hallmarking Act 1973.

The BIS system of hallmarking of gold jewellery began in April 2000. The standard specifications governing this system are IS 1417 (Grades of Gold and Gold Alloys, Jewellery/Artefacts), IS 1418 (Assaying of Gold in Gold Bullion, Gold alloys and Gold Jewellery/Artefacts), IS 2790 (Guidelines for Manufacture of 23,22,21,20,19,19,17,16,14 and 9 carat Gold Alloys), IS 3095 (Gold solders for use in manufacture of jewellery).

Also the assaying of platinum was introduced in 1953. In 1987, the assay system was privatized and since 1988 has been located in only an office at Gouda. The system is overseen by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs which appointed Edelmetaal Waarborg Nederland B.V. as of March 11, 2002. In 1999, the Netherlands ratified the Vienna Convention on the Control of the Fineness and the Hallmarking of Precious Metal Objects.

The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office in London (also known as Assay Office London or the London Assay Office) is the oldest assay office in the United Kingdom. The company has provided hallmarking services since The Goldsmiths Company was founded in the 14th century. The company received its royal charter in 1327 and ranks 5th in order of precedence of the 12 Great Livery Companies of the City of London.

Britannia standard silver was introduced as part of the great recoinage scheme of William III from 1696, when attempts were made to limit the clipping and melting of sterling silver coinage. A higher standard for wrought plate meant that sterling silver coins could not easily be used as a source of raw material because additional fine silver, which was in short supply at the time, would have to be added to bring the purity of the alloy up to the higher standard. Waiter of 1732, with Britannia gauge mark Britannia silver is considerably softer than sterling, and after complaints from the trade, sterling silver was again authorised for use by silversmiths from 1 June 1720, and thereafter Britannia silver has remained an optional standard for hallmarking in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Since the hallmarking changes of 1 January 1999, Britannia silver has been denoted by the millesimal fineness hallmark 958, with the symbol of Britannia being applied optionally.

Frontage of Goldsmiths' Hall The Company was first established as a medieval guild for the goldsmith trade. The word hallmarking derives from the fact that precious metals were officially inspected and marked at Goldsmiths' Hall. Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths' Alms Houses, Acton In 1812, twenty almshouses were built on the former Perryn estate in Acton, on open land west of London. The almshouses were built on land which had been left to the Company by John Perryn in 1657.

The Assay Office started in 1773 at leased rooms in the Kings Head Inn on New Street. It moved to Bull Lane in 1782, to Little Colmore Street in 1799 and then to Little Cannon Street in 1815 until its purpose built site on Newhall Street () was built in 1877, where it became the largest Assay Office in Europe, hallmarking 13 million articles in 2003 and claiming to be the largest in the world. The Newhall Street building is listed as Grade II.

Demand for palladium as a catalyst has increased the price of palladium to about 50% higher than that of platinum in January 2019. In January 2010, hallmarks for palladium were introduced by assay offices in the United Kingdom, and hallmarking became mandatory for all jewelry advertising pure or alloyed palladium. Articles can be marked as 500, 950, or 999 parts of palladium per thousand of the alloy. Fountain pen nibs made from gold are sometimes plated with palladium when a silver (rather than gold) appearance is desired.

If the work is to be of hallmarking quality, the gold solder alloy must match the fineness (purity) of the work, and alloy formulas are manufactured to color-match yellow and white gold. Gold solder is usually made in at least three melting-point ranges referred to as Easy, Medium and Hard. By using the hard, high-melting point solder first, followed by solders with progressively lower melting points, goldsmiths can assemble complex items with several separate soldered joints. Gold can also be made into thread and used in embroidery.

The manufacturer's mark - Consists of the initials of the manufacturer of the article surrounded by a small shield; 2. The fineness mark - The purity of the metal, in parts per thousand; 3. The official mark - the Head of Aphrodite until December 2001 and a ship as from January 2002 denotes that the article is made of gold, and the fish that the article is made of silver. The manufacturer's mark must be struck on the articles by the manufacturer before it is submitted to the Assay Office for hallmarking.

Between 1867 and 1933, Austria-Hungary and later, Hungary used the crescent moon crowned head of ancient Greek heroine Diana as the hallmarking symbol of legal silver alloys. The head was encircled by a frame, optionally composed of convex, concave and straight lines. One concave line represented 140/1000 fineness, a straight one 150 and a convex one 160. For example, a Diana head within a frame made in the shape of a 5-petal flower represented 5x160 = 800 thousands fineness, a local silver standard commonly used in table forks and spoons.

From the Late Middle Ages, hallmarking was administered by local governments through authorized assayers. These assayers examined precious metal objects, under the auspices of the state, before the object could be offered for public sale. By the age of the Craft Guilds, the authorized examiner's mark was the "master's mark", which consisted frequently of his initials and/or the coat of arms of the goldsmith or silversmith. At one time, there was no distinction between silversmiths and goldsmiths, who were all referred to as orfèvres, the French word for goldsmith.

In 1999 changes were made to the UK hallmarking system to bring the system closer into line with the European Union (EU). Note: that under this latest enactment, the date letter is no longer a compulsory part of the hallmark. A Legislative Reform Order (LRO) came into law on 8 February 2013 giving UK Assay Offices the legal right to strike hallmarks outside of UK territory. In July 2016 Birmingham Assay Office began striking Birmingham Hallmarks in Mumbai, India and further offshore offices are likely to be established.

Dunstan became patron saint of English goldsmiths and silversmiths because he worked as a silversmith making church plate. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion mark his feast day on 19 May., which is why, before the Restoration the date year on London Assay Office hallmarks ran from 19 May one year to 18 May the next, not the calendar year. This was changed at the restoration of Charles II in 1660 so that the hallmarking year began on the King's birthday, 29 May.

Cork republican silver refers to silverware produced in the Irish city of Cork during the Irish Civil War. Only around 60-80 pieces are known to survive. During the civil war, in the summer of 1922, Cork was for a time held by anti- Treaty forces, until it was retaken by the pro-Treaty National Army. Barry M. Egan, Managing Director of the family firm of silversmiths, William Egan & Sons, and unable to send silver to Dublin for hallmarking, devised his own hallmark, depicting a two-masted, left-facing, ship with a single-towered castle to either side of it.

A silver object that is to be sold commercially is, in most countries, stamped with one or more silver hallmarks indicating the purity of the silver, the mark of the manufacturer or silversmith, and other (optional) markings to indicate date of manufacture and additional information about the piece. In some countries, the testing of silver objects and marking of purity is controlled by a national assayer's office. Hallmarks are applied with a hammer and punch, a process that leaves sharp edges and spurs of metal. Therefore, hallmarking is generally done before the piece goes for its final polishing.

The egg was sold by Kelch in 1920 following the Russian Revolution and was purchased by a Mr. Leon Ginberg that same year after being offered for sale by the French jeweller Morgan on the Rue de la Paix in Paris. Because of French regulations with regard to hallmarking, this egg (and several others being offered up) could not be exhibited. In the 1940s it was sold by A La Vieille Russie in New York, and between 1949-1958 it was owned by Jack and Belle Linsky of New York. Then in 1958 it was bought by A La Vieille Russie once again.

Between 1971 and 1983 their sponsor's mark, used in the hallmarking to indicate them as the manufacturer, was M&H; and between 1983 and 2007 M over CH in a trefoil. Since 2007 their hallmark has been SH in a chamfered square. In 2007 the company launched its web site to enable trade customers to place orders more easily. As jewellery shops closed down and the traditional Department Stores who had historically been large customers of the business moved into new product areas, personal shoppers began to use the web site to find silver gifts that were increasingly difficult to find in the High Street.

Today its Freemen include jewellers, gold and silver smiths, bankers and financiers. Historically, many of its membership helped form the Bank of Scotland in 1695. It retains the statutory role of assaying and hallmarking gold, silver, platinum and palladium wares before they can be sold. The Kirking of the Deacons :Every year the Deacons are "kirked" at Beltane, in a ceremony, known as The Kirking of the Deacons, in which the Deacons march in ceremonial dress along with their banner-bearers, led by the Convenery's Officer bearing the Blue Blanket, under escort from the High Constables of Edinburgh, from Candlemakers' Hall to Greyfriars Kirk.

A proposal to construct a banknote manufacturing plant was submitted to Grand Council of State in May 1874; and construction was approved in December of that same year. A two-story Western red brick building was completed in October 1876.National Archives of Japan, Digital Gallery website: "[Drawings] Japan Mint" Over the course of decades, the Mint activities have expanded to include the production of Japanese orders (decorations), medals of honor and metallic art objects, the analysis and testing of metal ores and minerals, and the fineness certification of precious metal wares (hallmarking). The Mint became an Incorporated Administrative Agency on April 1, 2003.

In 1992, he was invited to join the Worshipful Guild of Goldsmiths in recognition of his services to the silver industry and his promotion of the hallmarking system, and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. Following these awards, Norman was given the right to apply for his own family Coat of Arms. Norman spent a number of years designing the Coat of Arms and created a collection of personal familial symbols as part of the Coat of Arms that would represent his family name over the coming generations. This was presented to Norman by the Royal College of Arms in 1996.

The assay office marks – from left to right, the leopard's head of London, the anchor of Birmingham, the Yorkshire rose of Sheffield, and the castle of Edinburgh. The assay office marks are no longer an indicator that an item was assayed in the city, or in the UK. Offshore hallmark used by Assay Office Birmingham's subsidiary in India. Precious metal objects assayed and marked outside of the UK must carry a mark which distinguishes them from items assayed in the UK. The Hallmarking Act 1973 made Britain a member of the Vienna Convention as well as introducing marking for platinum, a recognised metal under the Convention. All four remaining assay offices finally adopted the same date letter sequences.

The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office is still based at Goldsmiths’ Hall and remains the oldest company in Britain to be continually trading from the same site. However, it also has two satellite offices; at Greville Street in Hatton Garden in the heart of the London jewellery quarter and within a high security complex at London's Heathrow airport, where it handles parcels imported from foreign manufacturers. In addition to hallmarking, the office has now expanded its range of services to support the jewellery trade and enforcement authorities. It offers a variety of specialist analytical services including nickel testing, antique silver dating, non-destructive compositional analysis, plating thickness measurement and a melt and assay service for scrap precious metal carried out in their fully independent on-site laboratory.

In some nations, such as the UK, the hallmark is made up of several elements, including: a mark denoting the type of metal, the maker/sponsor's mark and the year of the marking. In England, the year of marking commences on 19 May, the feast day of Saint Dunstan, patron saint of gold- and silversmiths. In other nations, such as Poland, the hallmark is a single mark indicating metal and fineness, augmented by a responsibility mark (known as a sponsor's mark in the UK). Within a group of nations that are signatories to an international convention known as the Vienna Convention on the Control of the Fineness and the Hallmarking of Precious Metal Objects, additional, optional yet official, marks may also be struck by the assay office.

After Margaret Thatcher became Conservative leader in 1975, Butler became one of her two Parliamentary Private Secretaries, along with John Stanley. After the Conservative victory at the 1979 general election, he served as Minister of State for Industry at the Department of Industry until 1981, and then as minister for economic development in Northern Ireland until 1984, where he called in the receivers at the De Lorean motorcar company, and finally as minister for defense procurement until 1985. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1984, and knighted in 1986. He was also a member of the Court of the Goldsmiths' Company and later chairman of the British Hallmarking Council from 1998 to 2004; chairman of the Samuel Courtauld Trustees, associated with the Courtauld Institute of Art, from 1989 to 2005; and chairman of the Airey Neave Trust from 1990 to 2000.

The substantial brass lock is still on the door of his house and it has seven subsidiary controls. Morgan sat as Member of Parliament for Monmouthshire from 1841 to 1874 for the Conservatives. He also served as a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Monmouthshire. He was President of the Cambrian Archaeological Association 1857-8\. He had been elected to Society of Antiquaries but was not active until 1848 after which he was Vice-President more than once.J. A. Jenkins, "Morgan, Charles Octavius Swinnerton (1803–1888)", rev. Brynley F. Roberts, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 27 July 2010 Morgan published papers on astrolabes and episcopal rings and early communion plate. In 1852 Morgan published a series of papers in the Archaeological Journal about the assay and hallmarking of gold and silver, the first information that had been made public on this ancient practice.

Hallmark for gold In the modern world, in an attempt at standardizing the legislation on the inspection of precious metals and to facilitate international trade, in November 1972 a core group of European nations signed the Vienna Convention on the Control of the Fineness and the Hallmarking of Precious Metal Objects. Articles which are assayed and found by the qualifying office of a signatory country to conform to the standard, receive a mark, known as the Common Control Mark (CCM), attesting to the material's fineness. The multi-tiered motif of the CCM is the balance scales, superimposed, for gold, on two intersecting circles; for platinum, a diamond shape and for silver a mark in the shape of the Latin letter "M". This mark is recognized in all the other contracting states, including: Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine (see links below).

In March 2018 the British Hallmarking Council announced that UK Assay Office marks struck offshore must be distinguishable from those struck in the UK. It is likely that an 'offshore' assay mark will have to be added to signify that the item was not assayed in the UK. Only London and Edinburgh Assay Offices now strike marks exclusively in the UK. As it now stands, the compulsory part of the UK hallmark consists of the sponsor or maker's mark, the assay office mark, and the standard of fineness (in this case silver, 925 parts in 1000). Examples of British hallmarks for 925 silver. These are shown in the top of the two example hallmarks. The bottom example shows the extra marks that can also be struck, the lion passant, indicating Sterling silver, the date mark (lowercase a for '2000'), and in this example, the 'Millennium mark', which was only available for the years 1999 and 2000.

Hallmarking dates back to the 14th century when Edward I of England passed a law requiring any item made of silver, which was offered for sale to be at least of equal quality as that of the coin of the realm (silver currency). The four wardens of The Goldsmiths’ Company were tasked with visiting workshops in the City of London to assay (test) silver articles. If these articles were found to be below standard they were originally forfeit to the King, but if they passed, each article received the King's mark of authentication which was the mark of a leopard's head. By 1478, there were several hundred workshops and merchants manufacturing silver articles in the City of London. It was not possible for the wardens to visit them all so the merchants were ordered to bring their items to Goldsmiths’ Hall for testing and marking and a permanent Assay Office was established in the building. This is the origin of the term hallmark – struck with the King's mark at Goldsmiths’ Hall.