Wkstkopp — Dates on Plate belonging to Trinity College. 73 



is the one to be relied on for date of manufacture. From long experience I 

 have found that inscribed dates on plate are most untrustworthy for ascer- 

 taining the date of manufacture. I have seen comparatively few pieces on 

 which the inscribed date of gift and the hall-marks synchronize. This usually 

 occurs only on exceptional pieces, such as maces or such other objects as 

 would have been made specially for the occasion. In the case of cups, 

 salvers, &c, which formed the usual stock of a silversmith, any piece could 

 have been selected and inscribed with a date according to the wishes of the 

 purchaser, irrespective of hall-marks. 



In Ireland the hall-marking proper of plate begins in the year 1638, 

 although a mark for standard silver is mentioned in 1605. In 1637 the 

 Goldsmiths' Guild of Dublin received a Royal charter, which empowered 

 them, among other things, to strike a punch of a crowned harp on all 

 standard plate. Hall-marking was begun early in 1638, and at the same 

 time an alphabetical letter, generally changed annually, was adopted and 

 struck on plate. 



The alphabetical letter was struck to denote the year in which a piece of 

 plate was made, so that in case of any irregularity the master and wardens 

 of that year could be held responsible. The harp crowned, date letter, 

 and maker's mark were the only marks struck on Dublin plate from 1638 

 to 1730. 



In the year 1729 an Act of the Irish Parliament (3 Geo. II, c. 3) laid 

 down that from and after the 25th day of March, 1730, a duty of 6d. per oz. 

 was to be imposed upon all gold or silver plate wrought or manufactured 

 which shall be imported and brought into the kingdom of Ireland, and that 

 upon all gold and silver plate which shall be made or wrought in Ireland at 

 any time or times from and after the 25th day of March, 1730, during the 

 term of twenty-one years, a duty of Gel. for every ounce Troy was to be paid by 

 the makers or workers thereof respectively. Also that no goldsmith or silver- 

 smith or other person working or trading in wrought or manufactured gold 

 or silver shall sell, expose to sale, barter, or exchange any gold or silver vessel, 

 unless it be silver wire, or such things not exceeding 4 dwt., until such time 

 as such plate, vessel, or manufacture of gold or silver shall be assayed, touched, 

 and marked, upon pain of forfeiting the value thereof ; and that after the 

 same shall be touched and marked, the duty of 6rf. per oz., imposed by the Act, 

 shall be paid by the person bringing such plate to be assayed and touched, to 

 the assay-master, who is hereby empowered and required upon receipt of said 

 duty to stamp or mark without fee or reward the said plate with such stamp 

 or mark as the Commissioners of His Majesty's Revenue for the time being, 



or any three or more of them, shall from time to time appoint. To denote the 



[12'] 



