In regard to marks it is interesting to read what Mr. Octavius Morgan, the pioneer of the study of hall-marks, says in 1852: “Every person who is possessed of an article of gold or silver plate has most probably observed a small group of marks stamped on some part of it. Few however have, I believe, regarded them in any other light than as a proof that the article so marked is made of the metal which it professes to be, and that the metal itself is of a certain purity. And this is in fact the real ultimate object and intention of these marks; but besides this the archaeologist can deduce from them other important and interesting information, as by them he can learn the precise year in which any article bearing these marks was made. It is therefore to these marks that I am about to direct attention with a view to elucidate their history and peculiar meaning.” To Mr. Morgan’s labours in an unknown field all subsequent writers on hall-marks are indebted. He was the first collector who realized their importance. It seems amazing that up to 1852 nothing appears to have been known to the intelligent layman or the public at large of these symbols which had appeared on plate for some six hundred years. It suggests the idea that the marking was regarded in the nature of a trade secret. The “mistery” of the Goldsmiths’ Company was not to be profaned by vulgar eyes. In the light of this it may be conjectured that the chaotic arrangement of alphabets came about not by accident but by design. (_See Chronological List of Specimens illustrated in this volume, p. 414._) IV. THE MAKER’S MARK