76 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



1699, 1745, and 1751, and bearing date-letters for 1814. 1769, and 1817 

 respectively. 



I am of opinion that the absence of the date-letter is due simply to care- 

 lessness. As long as the crowned harp, Hibernia, and maker's mark were 

 struck, the assay-master, or official who actually struck the marks, thought 

 that the date-letter did not matter. 



During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries each punch was struck 

 separately, but in the nineteenth century what are called press-punches 

 were introduced. The press-punch contained in one piece all the ball-marks 

 to be struck. Instances of careless marking often occur on plate. For 

 instance, on old Cork plate the proper mark was the ship between two castles, 

 generally in three separate punches; but pieces are often found with the 

 maker's mark struck instead of the ship, to save the trouble of taking up the 

 ship punch. 



I have come across hundreds of pieces of Dublin plate, and also many of 

 English plate, of the eighteenth century, which have no date-letter, but the 

 hall-marks are contemporary with the date of manufacture, as indicated by 

 the form and decoration. 



In former times, in plate, one style of an object generally lasted for a 

 certain period, until another fashion arose, though, of course, there was a 

 little overlapping in the -ivies. Now. however, you can lind in a silver- 

 smith's shop, and made at the present day, pieces of plate in all styles, from 

 Roman times to A.D. 1917. In old silver the style and decoration of the 

 object generally tell you approximately the period in which it was made; 

 but the collector of the distant future will not be able to rely on this 

 evidence. 



The Provost states that he cannot detect any variation in the form of 

 the crowned harp punch at different periods. To the casual observer the 

 small crowned harps, such as arc found on Dublin silver, may seem all alike, 

 but on examining them closely a great difference will be apparent. From 

 having examined immense quantities of old plate I could generally tell the 

 approximate date of a piece of Dublin silver from the crowned harp alone, 

 without the aid of a date-letter. There were, naturally, several die-sinkers 

 employed, who from time to time cut the punches, and each had his own 

 way of cutting them. The number of strings to the harp and the dots on the 

 crown vary considerably, to say nothing of the general outline of the whole 

 stamp. 



There is another and very serious flaw in the Provost's theory of 

 post-assay, and that is, that dates of gift are inscribed on pieces of plate 

 which were never mad.- or thought of at the period denoted by the inscribed 



