In 1327 the london Goldsmith’s Company was incorporated and undertook the responsibility from that time for the assay and marking of plate. To further safeguard the public against poor quality wares and to revise and consolidate the existing legislation, dating back to the fourteenth century, parliament set up a select Committee to investigate this trade in 1856. The resultant report and evidence provides an invaluable account of the operation of the assay system in England, Scotland and Ireland, and detailed appendices of trade statistics. Later in the century other Select Committees investigated the effects of duties on gold and silver wares trade and the value of compulsory assay and marking. A special feature of the report is the evidence dealing with the origins and functions of the Goldsmith’s Company.
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