English Silver Hallmarks - our first form of consumer protection!
Martin Attridge
- Regions:
- Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, London
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Hobby
- Fee:
- Expensed: £60 for up to 40 people; increasing with audience size
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 8th November 2025
- Tagged:
- Silver | Hallmarks | Collecting | Antiques
- Silver coinage and the development of sterling silver money
- Ensuring silver objects met the required standard of fineness in 1300
- The London Goldsmiths Company and their control of the craft
- Hallmark development to cover makers, dates and place of assay
- Imposing duty on silver to help pay for costly wars
- Alignment with the EU and silver hallmarks today
- Examining silverware from the 18th and 19th centuries
- Identifying the hallmarks on your own pieces of English silver
About Martin Attridge
- I have lived with my wife in Harpenden, Hertfordshire for the past 40+ years.
- Following a career spent mainly as a commercial training consultant, I looked for other subjects in retirement to occupy my time outside the house.
- I decided to research and develop a range of History and Art short talks and they are all very well received.
- Now, I have decided to focus on just five subjects: William Hogarth - one of, if not, the finest English artist of any age; James Gillray - the father of political satire; George Cruikshank - satirist and prolific book illustrator; Len - my ex-racing greyhound, to raise funds for Whittingham Kennels, the charity who first gave him a home post-retirement; and Beguiling Bygones - a fun quiz for smaller groups of 16 to 32, working in teams to examinine and identify commonplace objects from the past.
- I do not use PowerPoint but bring and display large images that have proved to be very popular with numbers from 15 to 150, who like the change of style involved
- In addition, I provide a handout for each participant to take away, capturing the key points from each session.
Send a message to the speaker
If you are interested in this talk and wish to contact the speaker, please complete the following form: