PLATE; PLATING. In the article JEWELLERY, JEWELLING, it is explained that under the general name of plate are included the pro ductions iu gold and silver which are stamped at Goldsmith& Hall and similar places, while jewdlcry comprises the smaller articles which are not so stamped.
Confining our attention to plate, properly so called, it may be stated that all such articles made In and near London must be sent to Gold smiths' Hall, after having been stamped with the maker's mark. Persons used to the work serape off a few fragments for the purposes of assay; if this be found to be below the standard cin gold 18 carats fine), the article is broken up ; if of proper standard, it is stamped and returned. Most of the plate is mule in and near Clerkenwell, although the chief goldsmiths have their retail establishments at the West End or in the city; and there is at all times a busy system of transmission between Clerkenwell and Foster Lane, where the assay office of the Goldsmiths Company is situated. The company receive fees for assaying and stamping, amounting in the aggregate to about 4000f. a-year, from the manufacturers. They also receive about 20001. a-year from the government, for their trouble in collecting the Excise duty on gold and silver plate, and paying ,it into the Bank of England. This curious arrangement seems to have arisen from the circumstance that, as it is a part of the company's duty to ascertain exactly how much precious metal there is in each manufactured article, they have the menus at once of stating how much duty is payable to the government, at a certain rate per ounce. This rate is 17s. for gold and Is. ad. for silver, if estimated at the full weight; but as there is always a slight reduction of weight during the finishing processes which follow the assaying and stamping, the government take off one-sixth of the duty, leaving it at about 14s. 2d. and 1s. 3d. respectively. There have in recent years been about 50,000 of these assayings made in a year. The assayer& are not allowed to know from whose manufactured goods the particles have been scraped off ; each packet is opened, assayed, and reported on with perfect fairness. If any manufacturer has erred
frequently by sending in goods below the standard, the officer who receives the goods may direct any subsequent specimens from him to be tested with additional severity. Out of London, the towns in which the largest amount of gold and silver plate is manufactured are Birmingham and Sheffield; balls or assay offices are established there, with duties nearly like those of Goldsmiths Hall ; and at those places a curious operation is conducted, relating to diets of gold and silver. An assayer scrapes eight grains from every troy pound of plate manu factured, and divides it into two portions, one of which is at once assayed; the other is placed in a receptacle called the diet-bar, which, at the end of the year, contains specimens from all the articles manu factured. This box is sent up once a year to London, where the assay master of the Royal Mint assays a fair average of all the small portions which it contains : if this average reaches the standard, the assayer at Birmingham or Sheffield receives a certificate; if below the standard, he is fined. There are a few other assay offices in the United King dom, each having control over the gold and silver plate made within a certain district. The Goldsmiths' Company have often petitioned for the abolition of these country offices, on the plea that the assays are more scrupulously made by the company's servants than by those of the local halls ; but it is difficult to get rid of the influence of self interest in connection with any such plea. It is admitted, however, that plate stamped with the London hall-mark commands a higher position in the market than that which has only a country stamp. In recent years there have been (in round numbers) about 10,000 ozs. of gold plate, and 1,000,000 ozs. of silver plate, assayed and subjected to government duty annually in the United Kingdom.