It was a case of rise and grind for two members of the Court of Assistants who joined us in our workshop this month.  

Previous Prime Warden Michael Galsworthy and Arthur Drysdale helped to grind the date letters from punches which remained from 2016 and bore the corresponding date letter "r".  

 

Detail is ground off the punch

To retain the full provenance of the hallmark we can never back-date pieces and thus, they must be destroyed each year. 

Although the date letter isn't a compulsory part of the hallmark, it is part of the Full Traditional UK Hallmark, which we apply as standard. 

2017 is represented by a lowercase letter "s", and 2018 will be lowercase "t". 

 

Michael Galsworthy and Arthur Drysdale examine punches