Throughout the history of the manufacture of English silver plate the standard maintained has been always equal to that of the silver coinage, and sometimes higher. The control of the standard has long been in the hands of the State, and, it has already been shown, the proving or assaying of all articles, in order that they may be officially stamped as of sterling silver, was allocated to the wardens and assay masters of the London and other assay offices. Obviously if it had been permitted to manufacture silver plate at a lower standard than the coin of the realm, the latter would have been melted down to be made into plate at a profit. In order to regulate the uniform procedure of the trade throughout the country the amount of alloy to be added to silver was very clearly laid down by law. The standard for silver has been in force for six hundred years, since the reign of Henry II, viz. 11 oz. 2 dwts. of silver and 18 dwts. alloy in every pound troy of plate; that is 925 parts of silver in every thousand parts. From the year 1697 to 1720 the standard was fixed at 11 oz. 10 dwts. of silver to the pound troy, that is .958. This higher or “Britannia” standard is described in Section V of this chapter (pp. 49-59). In regard to this new standard, that is a standard above the sterling of the coin of the realm, special marks were used during the above period and have been used since then to the present day whenever silver plate is of the new standard. It was illegal to make silver plate of less than this new standard during the period 1697 to 1720; after this period there are two standards, the higher being optional. Another period when silver plate was higher in standard than the silver coin of the realm was during a portion of the reigns of Henry VIII, the whole of the reign of Edward VI, and the whole of the reign of Mary, until Elizabeth in the second year of her reign elevated the debased coinage to its former standard of fineness. In 1543 Henry VIII reduced the standard from 11 oz. 2 dwts. to 10 oz.; that is, ten parts of silver to two parts of alloy. In 1545 he reduced it further to 6 oz. in the pound troy, that is half silver and half alloy. In 1546 he made a still further reduction to 4 oz., so that silver coins of that period contain only one third silver. In 1552 this was increased to 11 oz. 1 dwt., to be reduced to 11 oz. in Mary’s reign. During all these changes the silver plate remained true to its old standard, and as though in proud superiority over the coin of the realm, the London Goldsmiths adopted in 1545 as a standard mark a new stamp--_the lion passant_, which has been their standard mark from that day to the present time, and has been recognized by many statutes since that time as constituting the standard mark, or sterling mark of the State, or, as it was termed at the time of Queen Elizabeth, “Her Majesty’s Lion.”