Gold and Silver Manufacturers, 247 



London ; but in Birmingham much gold and some silver are an- 

 nually applied to various ornamental purposes. In Sheffield 

 there is much use of silver, chiefly for plating. In Liverpool 

 and Chester many watches and some jewellery are produced, 

 and those articles which are liable to the duty are assayed at 

 the latter place. At Derby there are several manufacturers of 

 jewellery and gold articles, who produce goods of a quality su- 

 perior in the fineness of the metal to those made commonly in 

 Birmingham, but perhaps inferior to the best London jewellery. 

 At Newcastle, York, and Exeter, are manufacturers of gold 

 and silver goods, and of jewellery. In Scotland and in Ire- 

 land the goods they make, which are not liable to duty, bear 

 probably the same proportion to those chargeable with it, as is 

 found in the manufacturing towns in England. 



There are few towns in the kingdom where there are not to 

 be found some gold and silver smiths, who use greater or less 

 quantities of the two metals. Plain gold rings, and gold chains 

 from wire of appropriate size, are commonly made by such 

 workmen, and though the quantity by each individual is small, 

 yet the consumption of the whole number must be of consider- 

 able, though unknown, amount. 



It would have been impossible to have obtained from so 

 many and such various quarters, whatever pains may have been 

 taken, exact returns. It was thought proper to Hmit the per- 

 sonal examination to the three principal places — London, Bir- 

 mingham, Sheffield. In the author's inquiries among the per- 

 sons connected with the several branches of the trades that use 

 gold and silver in those three places, he has found so much rea- 

 diness to communicate information, so much accuracy generally 

 in the accounts rendered by some, verified by similar accounts 

 supplied by other individuals, and so much desire to point out 

 other sources of information, that he looks back to the time 

 spent among those persons with much satisfaction. 



In each branch of the trade a certain number of persons were 

 so kind as to furnish exact accounts of their own consumption 

 of both gold and silver, and their opinions as to the quantities 

 consumed by others in the same branch. By this a clue was 

 furnished, when these several accounts were compared with each 



