From 1784, therefore, on English and Scottish silver the duty mark of the head of the reigning sovereign appears on all silver plate, stamped in an oval escutcheon.
In regard to the duty mark on Irish plate, it was not until 1807 by 47 Geo. III that the stamp of the king’s head, or that of the reigning sovereign was added to the other marks to denote that duty had been paid to the king. The old mark of Hibernia was allowed to remain; originally it was a duty mark, but it may be now regarded as the hall-mark of Dublin.
The various sovereigns’ heads were used down to 1890, when the duty was discontinued and the mark abolished.
In connexion with these duty marks the Act of 1784 has a section which has an interesting provision, and those collectors who may happen to find a figure of Britannia on a piece of silver without its companion mark of the lion’s head erased may be puzzled as to the reason of the omission. First it does not denote that the silver plate was of the higher standard. It was a mark stamped on silver which was exported. By the above Act duty was not charged on silver exported, and in order to prevent any of this plate being taken abroad for a short time only, and then landed in this country to be sold here without the duty having been paid, it was stamped with the figure of Britannia.
The following are the Duty Marks used:—
| Ireland | 1730 to 1807 | Figure of Hibernia. | |||
| England and Scotland | 1784 to 1820 | Head of George III. | |||
| Ireland | 1807 to 1820 | do. | do. | ||
| England, Scotland, and Ireland | 1821 to 1830 | Head of George IV. | |||
| do. | do. | 1831 to 1836 | Head of William IV. | ||
| do. | do. | 1837 to 1890 | Head of Victoria. | Duty abolished 1890. | |
The illustrations of these duty marks are shown in the Table ([p. 357]).
VII. THE FOREIGN MARK
The Foreign Mark is a protective measure. A great amount of foreign wrought plate had found its way into this country and was being sold by dealers without sending it to the assay office. It was of a lower standard than would have been passed by the assay offices, that is to say it was not sterling silver as understood in this country, viz. 925 parts silver in every thousand parts of metal—that is, admitting only 75 parts of alloy in every thousand. In 1842 an Act was passed, 5 and 6 Vic., which enacted that no silver plate which had not been wrought in England, Scotland, or Ireland was to be sold in these countries unless it had first been assayed in the same manner as silver wrought in Great Britain and Ireland. But no provision was made that such foreign silver should bear an additional stamp, nor does it seem that the Act was very much put into operation. The provisions seem to have been evaded till 1867, when by 30 and 31 Vic. all imported plate had to be marked with letter F in an oval escutcheon, denoting it was of foreign manufacture, although it had passed the tests and otherwise had the stamps of British or Irish assay offices upon it.