Hallmark: A History of the London Assay Office

Testing articles made of precious metals and stamping them with hallmarks to indicate that they are of a minimum standard of purity has been the work of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for seven centuries. The history of the London Assay Office is a tale of royal greed, forgery and counterfeiting, plague, war and fluctuating fortunes and it is brought vividly to life in this book.