RG London maker, unregistered mark

[Juke]

Hi,

I was interested to hear of this silversmith RG who has marked in 1776-77. First of all what does an unregistered maker mean? Was he a silversmith of inferior quality and was not accepted to the guild? Or was there some other reason he didn't register his mark. Could a silversmith work outside the guild without registering himself?

This mark is as I know dedicated most probably to Richard Gardner but I have understand he hadn't register his mark.



Regards,
Juke

[dognose]

Hi Juke,

The term 'Unregistered Mark', so often used for unidentified mark of this period, is a misnomer, the mark would definitely have been registered. The term appears to have become popular since Arthur Grimwade first published his great work, and put the marks that he found on examples, but we not recorded in the registers at the London Assay Office, into a separate chapter entitled 'Unregistered Marks'.

The reason that the marks were not available to Grimwade, was the loss of the Largeworker's register (1758-1773), that would have contained the entries of many silversmiths such as Richard Gardner. Grimwade speculated that the register appears to have been missing since at least 1863, but research by John Culme in 2000 makes it likely that it was lost during a fire that occurred at the temporary London Assay Office on the 29th July 1830, during the construction of the present-day Goldsmiths' Hall.

Trev.

[Juke]

Hi!

Thanks for the clarification, makes it now more logical.

Regards,
Juke

[dognose]

Hi Juke,

Would it be possible to capture a sharp close-up image of the maker's mark for the unrecorded marks section?

Trev.

[Juke]

It's the best picture I got.

[buckler]

I 'm afraid must differ from Trev in the definition of "Unregistered Mark"

We may not have a record now of a mark for two reasons

(1) It was never registered at Goldsmiths Hall. The silversmith had a punch made, but never bothered to take it to the Assay Office . This is not uncommon, if a silversmith had existing registered marks and his apprentices or journeymen were known to the Assay Office , he sometimes did not bother. I believe he had to attend the Hall in person to sign for the mark, and if the trip was a long one, and he was busy , he did not bother. Human nature.

(2) It was registered but that was in one of two lost registers of Goldsmiths'Hall . These disappeared in the mists of time, probably pre 1863 and are the Holy Grail of reasearchers ! Probably long destroyed but we all hope ......
The Registers missing are the
Smallworkers of 1739 - 1758
Largeworkers of 1758 - 1773