A Trip Down Quincentenary Lane for Assay Master Ashley
Published: 1st April 2025
In the UK, the practice of using date letters in hallmarking, which indicate the year an item was hallmarked, began in 1478.
In 1978 a very young Ashley Carson was commissioned, by the then Assay Master David Johnson, to produce a goblet to present to the City of Sheffield, to mark the Quincentenary of the Date Letter.
At the time, Ashley was studying Silversmithing at Chesterfield College of Art and Design and produced a sterling silver goblet, hand raised from discs of silver.
The current Lord Mayor, Councillor Jayne Dunn, recently came across the goblet in the City Collection and invited Ashley, now in his 48th year as Assay Master at Sheffield Assay Office, to visit the Town Hall to view the goblet with a group of his managers.
Ashley was thrilled and delighted to see the goblet once again and said “it's actually better made than I thought and I was really proud to see the goblet once again close up. It was very kind of the Lord Mayor to invite us down and also for my managers to see the Lord Mayors Parlour and the inside of the Town Hall."
The Sheffield Assay Office was established in 1773, under an Act of Parliament and today the company assays and hallmarks the precious metals - silver, gold, platinum and palladium. Sheffield Assay Office is one of only four UK assay offices who all work to uphold the Hallmarking Act of 1973 and continue to ensure consumer protection for customers purchasing precious metals.
To find out more about the whole range of services offered by Sheffield Assay Office, such as our hallmarking and analytical services, please email us at info@assayoffice.co.uk or complete the contact form on our website at http://www.assayoffice.co.uk/contact-us ,
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