GOLDSMITHS' COMPANY, one of the richest guilds in England, formed at first for the protection of gold and silver artifices, and, now intrusted with the assaying and stamping of all standard, gold. Antiquarians assert that the Goldsmiths' company must have.been formed in the early Anglo-Saxon times. In the reign of Henry II. (1180) it is mentioned with other guilds as existing without license, and in 1236 was rendered notorious by a virulent quarrel with the merchant tailors, which was quelled only by the interference of the legal authorities. Fifteen charters have at different times been awarded to this guild, and in 1396 it was incorporated as a company, while the arms, crest, and supporters were added in 1571. Privileges have been constantly extended to it, and since the time of James I., When the last charter was granted, its wealth and importance have steadily increased. The company's buildihgs are situated in the rear of the general post-office. The site occupied belonged to a brother of the bishop of London in 1316, and was made over to the guild by him. It is uncertain when the buildings were commenced, but the first stone of the hall itself was laid by sir Brue Barentyn, .1407. During the great fire of London it sustained serious damage, but was repaired, and was completed in 1669. The charities in connection with it are large, and number over fifteen, its revenues are enormous, and increase yearly, while the value of the property owned by the company is many treasures left to it by will are the coronation cup used at queen Elizabeth's accession, and many rare and exquisite paintings. statures. etc. Hayter's portrait of queen Victoria is a late acquisi tion. The guild possesses the right of assaying all articles made of gold and silver, for which it receives from the manufacturers fees exceeding in value £6,000 per annum. In
addition to this the government pays the company a large salary for collecting excise dues and paying them into the bank. The method of testing gold by assay is performed by scraping off a portion of the metal and subjecting it to an analytical test, and the article is stamped in accordance with the absolute quantity of pure metal which it con tains. Assay marks are variously used. The Goldsmiths' company possesses five: the first, an impression of the sovereign's, head, indicating the reign ;- the second, the lion passant. which iz the sti:n0a-c. and dates back to queen Elizabeth, or possibly to Henry ; the price mark referable to the enactments of William III. ; and the remaining two, a leopard's head, and the maker's mark, both of uncertain period. In addition to these assay marks, in order to stamp the date exactly and correctly, the company have introduced the " date " letter. Twenty letters of the alphabet are used for this purpose, the series commencing with the first, omitting Y and ending with U. The letter is changed yearly, and the shape of the letter every twenty years. Thus, front 1796 to 1816, the ordinary letters were in vogue, and the letter D would mean 1799, while, as the smaller letters came into use at the end of the twenty years, or 1816, a small D would give 1820 RS the year of manufacture. Then, in the twenty years to 1856 old English capitals were employed, giving place in turn, at the expiration of that time, to small old letters. The earliest known letter date was used in 1438.