Sheffield Assay Office, responsible for stamping precious metal objects to certify their value, has shared images of its most fascinating items ahead of its 250th anniversary.
Since hallmarking its first object on September 20, 1773, the office has been responsible for assuring the quality of objects containing gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Before receipts and warranty guarantees, this was the first way to give consumers protection. Now, it is one of only four remaining assay offices in the country.
In its early days, most of Sheffield Assay Office's business was local, but it now attracts customers from all over the world, still surveying millions of jewellery items each year which are left bearing the Sheffield “town” mark.
The anniversary celebration events in September include a tour of the town hall on the 8th, display openings at museums across the city including Millenium Gallery on the 9th, and a metalwork tour of the Cathedral on the 17th with a Curator of the Assay Office and a Heritage Officer.
1. Precision-marking gold chains at the current location.
The Assay Office continues to hallmark small precious items and jewellery, such as the gold chains pictured, but is looking to the future and working with cutting-edge analytical services too.
2. Cup and cover
The first item to be hallmarked at Sheffield Assay Office on 20th September 1773, with the distinctive symbols on the right. The cup and cover was made by Henry Tudor and Thomas Leader.
3. Silver bedframe
The silver bedstead weighed more than a ton, windows had to be removed in order to get the frame into the offices on Leopold street to be able to test and hallmark it. It was made for an Indian Rajah, Raj Rama Bhawaur Singh, designed and made by Mappin and Webb, hallmarked at Sheffield Assay Office in 1909.
4. Snuffer tray
This snuffer tray is another early item, hallmarked in the first year the Assay Office was open. It was made by Richard Morton, Thomas Warris, John Winter, Samuel Roberts, John Elam, Thomas Sattle, John Eyre, Nathaniel Smith.