The silversmith often used small anvils, stakes, and dies. Figure 13, for instance, is a spoon mold used to make the final shape of the spoon. Figures 16, 18, 20, and 22 are button punches used to impress a design on smaller pieces. DIDEROT.
Stamping was normally used only in the forming of such small articles as the bowls of teaspoons. In this procedure a piece of silver was forged to the desired thickness and outline, and placed between a hollowed-out lower die and a rounded upper one. When the smith forced the two dies together by a blow of his heaviest hammer, the bowl of the spoon was formed. By filing, planishing, and polishing—and possibly some engraving—the one-piece spoon was quickly finished.
A soup ladle, having a much larger and deeper bowl, would have been formed by the raising process, with the handle made as a separate piece and soldered to the bowl. In fact, only the simplest articles and the smallest ones could be formed by one process alone. The accomplished colonial silversmith had to be able not only to refine and assay his own silver, but to work it up in any combination of techniques that the design made most appropriate.
As an example, the body and spout of a teapot might each have been formed by the seaming process, the base by forging, the top by raising, the finial by casting, and parts of the hinges by drawing. Then all the parts would have been soldered together and the piece planished, polished, and finished off with engraved, chased, or repoussé decoration—or a combination of these. Finally, the smith would have attached a wooden handle, which he might have obtained from a cabinetmaker—or made himself.
Among the silversmith’s final procedures would have been the stamping of his mark, his initials, or his name on the piece. This practice of identifying the maker of an article of gold or silver ware is of long standing, though perhaps not so ancient as the custom by which a painter or sculptor signs his work.
Since the year 1300 the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of the City of London has been charged by the British government with assaying gold and silver wares and coins, and certifying that the metals are of required fineness. Throughout most of this long period the hallmarking of English silver articles has retained a basic continuity of tradition. Disregarding certain modifications and accretions (some noted in the caption above), every piece of sterling silver made in England since 1544 has borne four marks stamped on the back, bottom, or side.
The hallmarks in the first line above and the maker’s marks in the second line illustrate the variety of markings used on English silver. The leopard’s head crowned (A) became the mark of the City of London; B and E are date letters; C is the lion passant denoting silver of sterling fineness. During the Britannia standard period (1697-1719), the lion’s head erased (F) replaced the leopard’s head crowned, Britannia (D), still optional, replaced the lion passant on London silver, and the standard of fineness was raised from 92.50% to 95.83%. Also, the law required the maker to use the first two letters of his last name, for example (G), the mark of Paul de Lamerie. It was the custom before and after this period for silversmiths to use initials. The marks of George Wickes, John Tuite, and Dorothy Mills are shown (H, I, and J) and examples of their work are in Colonial Williamsburg’s collection of English and American silver. Some of George Wickes’s tools may be among those currently used at the Golden Ball and the Geddy Shop.
One is the true hallmark, the symbol of the guildhall where it was assayed. That of the guild of London goldsmiths is the head of a leopard and has been in use for the nearly seven centuries since 1300. Assay offices established later in a few other cities use other symbols.