Postby dinkum1017 » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:08 pm
Miles:
I'm thinking that you may not think it's attributable to the London Assay Office. I'm learning as I go along. I found the following:
The date letter. Each year, which runs from May till April, is allocated a different letter. A cycle of 20 letters is used (omitting J, V, W, X, Y, and Z) so there are five cycles in a century. Each cycle has its own style of letter and/or its uniquely shaped shield. The original purpose of this letter was not to record the year in which the piece was assayed, but to identify the Assay Master (who was appointed annually in May) so that he could be called to account if he passed lower grade silver as sterling. To be pedantically correct, the date of silver should include two years, for example 1783-4, but in practice we usually use only the first of the years that the letter spanned, e.g., 1783.
I'm back wondering what the letter date is for this piece. Thanks for your assistance.
