Show Britannia Standard Set for Silverware in 1696 1695 During the last quarter of the Seventeenth century when the extravagant extravagant extravagant ex ex- display of wealth at the court of the Stuart kings and in the homes of the nobility reached a height which caused historians to call it the silver age demand for plate became so great that silversmiths silversmiths silver- silver smiths faced with a shortage of bar silver melted down coins coms to get material ma ma- for making their wares Nat Nat- by the end of the century there was a distinct scarcity of coins and of silver for the mint writes Alice H. H Coutant in American American Ameri Ameri- can Collector Accordingly in 1696 it was decreed decreed decreed de de- de- de creed that all silver objects other than coins should be made of a higher standard than sterlins namely parts pure silver in 1000 This became known knO as the Britannia standard because it was marked with the figure of Britannia in place of the lion pas pas- sant santo It was enforced from 1696 until until un un- un- un til 1720 After the latter date it was allowed if a craftsman wished to develop a piece in the finer metal Whenever this happens the piece is always marked with the figure of Britannia Much of the Jubilee silver was made in this standard London is and always has been i the most important assay town in Great Britain From the year 1478 until the end of the reign of George III in 1821 the mark was that of ofa a leopards leopard's head crowned Since then the leopards leopard's head uncrowned and looking more like the face of the famous Cheshire cat has been in use |