NOTES ON SOME MARKS ON SILVER-PLATE 

 PECULIAR TO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 



BY B. CAREY CURTIS 



(Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects). 



o 



In the course of examining several hundreds of pieces of 

 Church Plate in the Channel Islands, I was struck by the 

 frequent occurrence of Marks, obviously those of the makers, 

 not associated with the marks we all know as " Hall-marks." 



Curiously enough, there were very few cases of marks 

 common to both Islands, showing that the persons who were 

 responsible for punching these marks on the pieces had little 

 or no inter-communication. Yet it is surprising that the 

 same pattern and size of mark prevails throughout the Islands. 

 The most ordinary was, of course, the initials, presumably 

 those of the maker, in a cartouche, generally oblong both with 

 square angles and with rounded ones ; sometimes the frame 

 took the shape of a shield or other irregular figure. Another 

 common shape was that of the initials surmounted by a crown 

 on a shaped body, generally shield-shaped, but also cushion or 

 other irregular shaped. 



There are two marks, or rather sets of marks, call for 

 special mention. One is found in both Jersey and Guernsey 

 (see No. 14 in list) which has at first the appearance of some 

 of the provincial marks in use in France during the 18th 

 century. The fleur-de-lys is very much in evidence and also 

 the crown, and this as I shall show later will give a very good 

 idea as to the source of this mark. 



The other mark worthy of special note is that shown as 

 No. 16 on the accompanying list of Marks. It is by far the 

 most common mark in Gruernsey, but I have not come across 

 it anywhere in Jersey. It ranges over the dates from 1735 to 

 1767, and has four variations, viz.: (1) the initials alone; 

 (2) the initials with the harp and letter R; (3) the initials 

 with harp and a crown without the letter R. I am of opinion 

 however that all these marks belonged to the same manu- 

 facturer. 



Whence came all these marks ? They are not sporadic, 

 but numerous enough to give the idea that at one time a con- 

 siderable trade in silver-ware was done in the Channel Islands, 

 quite distinct from any traffic with England or France. The 

 earliest date is of 1659 and they extend down to the latter 

 half of the 18th century, and it appears from these dates 



