A career as a gold or silversmith was not to be undertaken
lightly. An apprentice had to serve for seven years, followed
by one year as a journeyman working for someone else. He was
also required to own £500 in goods or land, a considerable wealth
at the time, and had to demonstrate his skill by making two pieces
under the eyes of two master craftsmen. Membership of the
Goldsmiths' Company allowed a silversmith to register his maker's
mark and to set up his own workshop.
Pure silver and gold are soft, so they must be mixed with harder
metals and worked as alloys. Consequently standards of purity
are necessary to establish their value. The purity is
confirmed by the hallmark, a series of small stamps made on the
item at an assay office. These often include an assay office
mark, a date letter, a standard mark, a duty mark and the mark of
the assay master. Some Scottish towns, including Dumfries,
had their own marks for silverware made locally, but not sent to
Edinburgh or Glasgow for assaying. The silversmith would also
add a maker's mark, usually their name or initials.
Occasionally a maker's mark occurs without any other marks.
By 1836 all Scottish silver work had to be sent to Edinburgh or
Glasgow for assay, and the trade of silversmiths in smaller towns
went into a decline. In 1963 Glasgow's assay office
closed. Now all silver and gold made throughout Britain is
assayed in Edinburgh, London or Birmingham.
The town marks used by Dumfries silversmiths were an
anchor, a
stag's head and a
unicorn's head.
Other marks sometimes occur on silver made in Dumfries.
These include a wheat sheaf, a shell, various letters such as "D",
"e", "G", "K" and the letter "S" in a serrated shield.