Having compartments for salt and spices. On three ball feet. London 1601. Decorated with designs of roses in flat chasing in upright panels. (_By courtesy of Messrs. Crichton Brothers._)] Some rare examples are in the possession of corporate bodies. There is the silver-gilt salt and cover, 15¹/₄ inches high, belonging to the Corporation of Norwich. This is, as the inscription indicates, “The Gyfte of Petar Reade Esqviar.” The plate marks are a roman capital letter D, the arms of Norwich, and a cross mound within a lozenge. It was made at Norwich, and its date is not later than 1568, for Peter Reade died in that year. Then there is the wonderful Ashburnham salt cellar and cover of the time of Henry VII, the earliest standing salt, 12¹/₂ inches high, bearing the London hall-mark of the year 1508, and the maker’s mark, a rising sun. This was bought by Messrs. Crichton Brothers for £5,600. Later salt cellars, while still being collectors’ pieces, depart from the older form when “below the salt” had no meaning. The old silver salt cellars of Queen Anne and Georgian days are another story. The elegance of form and the quaint reticence of design make them desirable acquisitions for any modern dining-table. During the past twenty years, when the furniture of Chippendale and of Sheraton has been collected with such avidity to refurnish old homes and to give age to modern mansions, the demand for old silver accessories of the table has been equally great. In consequence, spurious silver of later date, with the old hall-marks cunningly inserted, has appeared in great quantities. As a warning to the collector of “old salts,” it cannot too strongly be urged that in his earliest flights he should consult a friend who has passed through the same stages before him. The same advice is, unfortunately, necessary in connection with collecting old china and old furniture. The literature of these two subjects is more ready to hand, and there are many popular handbooks designed to set the feet of the novice in collecting on the right path. In silver collecting there is always a sure road. In furniture or in china there is no puissant company of furniture experts or china moralists. The buyer may be advised to use his common sense and demand that the dealer put on the invoice the exact description of the goods he is selling. If after expert advice the purchaser finds he has been deceived, he has his remedy in a court of law. But with silver, there are the hall-marks determined by law for the protection of the public. The Goldsmiths’ Company exist to safeguard the public against fraud, and their honourable traditions extend, as we have seen, over four hundred years. If any buyer has any doubt as to the London marks or the provincial marks on a piece of silver he has purchased, it is easy to establish their authenticity. If, for instance, the mark is a London one, the Goldsmiths’ Company would obviously be pleased to