
Cities appointed for assaying, &c. Wrought Plate.Whereas the Goldsmiths Silversmiths and Plateworkers of this Kingdom remote from the City of London
are under great Difficulties and Hardships in the Exercise of their Trades for want of Assayers in convenient
Places to assay and touch their wrought Plate For Remedy whereof and for preventing all Frauds and Corruptions
therein Be it enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords
Spirituall and Temporall and  Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same
That the severall Cities within this Kingdom where the Mints were lately erected for recoining the Silver Money of
this Kingdom viz[en] York Exeter Bristol Chester and Norwich shall be and are hereby appointed for the assaying
and marking of wrought Plate and for executing the Powers Authorities and Directions given by this Act
II. 
Company to choose Wardens annually.; Proviso for Death, &c. of Warden.
Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid That in every of the Cities aforesaid the Goldsmiths Silversmiths and
Plate-workers who are or shall be Freemen of and inhabiting within any of the said Cities and having served an
Apprenticeship to the said Trade of a Goldsmith Silversmith or Plate worker shall be and are hereby respectively
incorporated a Company of or belonging to such City and shall be called and known by the Name of the Company
of Goldsmiths of such City respectively Which Company of such City shall be enabled and are hereby authorized
annually to choose Two Persons to be the Wardens of the said Company in each of the said Cities respectively
Which said Wardens shall continue for the Space of One Year and no longer unless reelected by the said Company
And if any of the said Wardens so chosen as aforesaid shall happen to dye or remove out of such City then the
said Company shall within One Month after such Death or Removall choose another Person of their Company to
be Warden in his Room and such Person so chosen shall and is hereby authorized and required to act accordingly
III. 
Penalty Exception.
And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Goldsmith Silversmith or Plateworker in any of
the said Cities shall work or make or cause to be wrought or made any Silver Vessell Plate or Manufacture of
Silver less in finess then according to the Standard of this Kingdom which for the Time being is or shall be
appointed by Law for wrought Plate nor shall put to sale exchange or sell any Plate or Manufacture of Silver
made after the Nine and twentieth Day of September One thousand seven hundred and one untill such Time as
such Plate or manufactured Silver shall be marked as followeth (viz[en]) with the Workers Mark to be expressed
with the Two first Letters of his Sirname to denote the Maker thereof and also with the Lions Head erased and the
Figure of a Woman commonly called Britannia and with the Arms of such of the Cities aforesaid wherein such
Plate shall be assayed and marked to denote the Goodness thereof and the Place where the same was assayed and
marked and also with a distinct variable Mark or Letter in Roman Character which Mark or Letter shall be
annually changed upon the Election of new Wardens for each respective Company to denote the Year in which
such Plate is made upon pain that all such Silver Vessells Plate or other manufactured Silver (except such Things
as by reason of their Smallness are not capable of recieving a touch) which shall be made exposed to sale or
exchanged contrary to this Act shall be forfeited or the Value thereof One Moyety thereof to the Kings Majesty
His Heirs and Successors and the other Moiety thereof to such Person and Persons as will sue for the same to be
recovered by Action of Debt Bill Suit or Information in any Court of Record in any County or Place wherein
such Offence shall be committed and wherein no Essoign Protection Wager of Law or any more than one Imparlance
shall be allowed
IV. 
His Allowance and Oath.
And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That there shall be an able and skillfull Man experienced
in assaying of Gold and Silver elected by the said Company of Goldsmiths in each of the said Cities respectively for
whom it shall and may be lawfull to detain Eight Grains only from every Pound Troy of Silver he shall assay
				Four Grains whereof shall be put into the Box of Dyett and the other Four Grains shall be allowed him towards
his Wast and Spillings in making the said Assays And who imediately after his Election shall take the Oath
following (viz[en])
I A : B : do swear That I will be faithfull and true to our Sovereign Lord King William and will so long as I
shall continue an Assayer well and faithfully behave my self in the said Office and no undue Profit to my self
take to the hurting or hindrance of any Person that is Owner or Bringer in of any Gold or Silver in Plate
to be assayed except of Plate wrought only Four Grains of every Pound Weight to be taken and put into the
Box of Diet and other Four Grains to be taken likewise of every Pound Weight of Plate wrought (and not
otherwise) towards my Wast and Spillings in making the said Assays And that I will touch no Gold nor Silver
but what shall be of the Goodness of and according to the Standard of this Kingdom which for the time being
is or shall be appointed by Law for wrought Plate And all such Gold or Silver as shall be brought to me to
be touched I will truly sett down in Writing and the same at all times as I shall be required will duely and truly
deliver again (except Eight Grains as aforesaid) and will true Accounts make thereof when thereunto required by
the Wardens of the Companies wherein I am chosen Assayer and that I will no Assays make of Things new wrought
before they be markt with the Mark of the Maker or Owners thereof And that I will not put into the aforesaid
Box any Silver but that Silver which I shall have scraped and taken from the Plate which I shall assay and pass
for Standard So help me GOD.
Which Oath the Mayor in the respective Cities aforesaid is hereby required and impowered to administer to such
Assayer
V. 
May be annually conveyed to the Mint in the Tower; False Diets,; Penalty £50; Plate unduly marked,; Penalty.
And it is hereby further enacted That the Box or Boxes wherein the Diet of all such Plate as shall be tryed
by the Assayers aforesaid is put shall be locked up with Three different Locks and the respective Keys thereof
shall be kept by the Wardens and Assayers of such respective Companie by whom such Assayers shall be elected
and chosen which Box or Boxes shall be at the Charge of each respective Company conveyed annually (if required
by the Lord Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal of England for the time being) to His Majesties Royall Mint
at the Tower of London And the said Diet therein contained shall be tryed as the Pix of the Coin of this
Kingdom is tryed And if in any of the said Diets there shall be found any Falshood or Deceit then every such
Company for every such Offence shall forfeit the Summe of Fifty Pounds to be recovered in manner as aforesaid
against such Company or any Member thereof in his private Capacity and to be disposed of as aforesaid And if
any Plate shall be touched allowed or marked for good by any of the Assayers of the respective Places aforesaid
and if in the same there shall be found any Deceit then such Assayer who so marked the same shall forfeit double
the Value of the Plate so marked to be recovered and disposed as aforesaid
VI. 
Penalty.
And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That on or before the Nine and twentieth Day of September
One thousand seven hundred and one every Goldsmith Silversmith or Plateworker inhabiting in any of the Cities
aforesaid or in any other Town or Place within this Kingdom where an Assayer is not or shall not be appointed
and also every Person who at any time after the said Nine and twentieth Day of September shall be a Goldsmith
Silversmith or Plateworker and shall inhabit in any of the Cities aforesaid or in any other Town or Place within
this Kingdom where an Assayer is not or shall not be appointed before he takes upon him to exercise any of the
said Trades shall enter his Name and his Mark and Place of Abode with the Wardens of such Company of
that City or Place where an Assayer is or shall be appointed which shall be done by the said Wardens upon
Demand without Fee or Reward and if any such Goldsmith Silversmith or Plateworker shall not enter his Name
and Mark and Place of Abode as aforesaid or shall strike any other Mark on Plate but what is so entred such
Goldsmith Silversmith or Plateworker so offending shall forfeit double the Value of the Plate so marked to be
recovered and disposed as aforesaid
VII. 
Penalty £500.
And be it further enacted That if any Person shall counterfeit any of the Stamps appointed by this Act to be
used by the said Wardens or Assayers for marking wrought Plate or any of the Stamps used by the Wardens of
the Company of Goldsmiths of the City of London such Person shall for every such Offence forfeit the Summe of
Five hundred Pounds to be recovered and disposed as aforesaid
VIII. 
Goldsmith, &c. to fix his own Mark on Plate, Exception, and then send it to be assayed, &c.; If Standard, Assayers to mark the same; Fee.; Goldsmith, &c. working Plate, &c. of improper Fineness, or selling before marked,; Exception.; Penalty,
And whereas it is not the Intent and Meaning of this Act to hinder any Goldsmith Silversmith or Plateworker
not inhabiting within any of the Cities aforesaid from exercising his or their Trade of Goldsmith Silversmith or
Plateworker yet for preventing of Abuse & Corruption therein it is hereby further enacted That all and every
Goldsmith Silversmith and Plateworker inhabiting in any Town or Place where an Assayer is not or shall not be
appointed elected or chosen shall first fix his or their Mark upon all his and their Plate which shall be made from
and after the said Nine and twentieth Day of September (except such Things as by Reason of their Smallness are
not capable of recieving the Touch) and shall then bring or send the same to some City or Place where an Assayer
is or shall be appointed elected or chosen and the same shall be there assayed according to this Act And if by
the said Assayer it shall be found to be of the Finesse of the Standard which for the Time being is or shall be
by Law appointed for Wrought Plate then the same shall be marked by the said Assayer as he is by this Act
required to mark the Plate of the respective Company by which he shall have been chosen an Assayer and shall
be allowed satisfied and paid towards his Charge and Trouble in making such Assays by the Owner or Owners
 Bringer or Bringers of such Plate so assayed a Summe not exceeding Six Spence for every Pound Troy and so
proportionably for every greater or lesser Quantity of Plate so assayed and marked And if any such Goldsmith
Silversmith or Plateworker shall work or make or cause to be wrought or made any Silver Vessell Plate or
Manufacture of Silver less in Finess than according to the Standard which for the Time being is or shall be by
Law appointed for Wrought Plate or shall put to Sale exchange or sell any Silver Vessell Plate or Manufacture of
Silver made after the said Nine and twentieth Day of September (unless it be such Things as in respect of their
Smallness are not capable of recieving a Touch) before such Vessell Plate or Manufacture of Silver shall be assayed
and marked as aforesaid every such Goldsmith Silversmith and Plateworker so offending shall forfeit the said Plate
or the Value thereof to be recovered and disposed as aforesaid