[Illustration: _Frontispiece of_ A New Touchstone for Gold and Silver Wares _by W. B., published in London in 1679. By William Badcock, a London goldsmith, it was the standard seventeenth-century reference book on metalwork. The forge, bellows, and tools are typical of those of the craft, of which St. Dunstan was the patron saint._] The Intent of the Frontispiece. 1 _St._ Dunstan, _the Patron of the_ Goldsmiths _Company_. 2 _The Refining Furnace._ 3 _The_ Test _with Silver refining on it_. 4 _The Fineing Bellows._ 5 _The Man blowing or working them._ 6 _The_ Test _Mould_. 7 _A Wind-hole to melt Silver in without Bellows._ 8 _A pair of Organ Bellows._ 9 _A Man melting or Boiling, or nealing Silver at them._ 10 _A Block, with a large Anvil placed thereon._ 11 _Three Men Forging Plate._ 12 _The Fineing and other_ Goldsmiths _Tools_. 13 _The_ Assay _Furnace_. 14 _The_ Assay-_Master making Assays_. 15 _His Man putting the Assays into the Fire._ 16 _The Warden marking the Plate on the Anvil._ 17 _His Officer holding the Plate for the Marks._ 18 _Three_ Goldsmiths, _small-workers, at work_. 19 _A_ Goldsmiths _Shop furnished with Plate_. 20 _A_ Goldsmith _weighing Plate_. Brodnax died in 1719 leaving an estate of £1,000, a very considerable amount in those days, including nearly £200 worth of old gold and silver and close to £300 of finished work. Whether he acquired this estate through silversmithing alone cannot be determined now. It seems highly unlikely in view of the limited economy of that time and place and the experience of others in the craft at a later and more opulent period. He may well have gained his wealth by inheritance, by the sale of his backcountry lands to William Byrd in 1711, or possibly, as so many others did, from the sale of tobacco produced on those acres. Anthony Singleton was born in Williamsburg in 1750, possibly served as apprentice to James Craig, and opened his own jewelry and goldsmith shop in 1771 opposite the Raleigh Tavern. Little is known today about Singleton’s career as a craftsman in silver. After making his mark as a captain of artillery in the Revolution, he moved to Richmond and married Lucy Harrison Randolph, daughter of Benjamin Harrison the Signer, sister of William Henry Harrison the President, and widow of Peyton Randolph of Wilton. Although Singleton held a number of public and private offices of trust and responsibility, and by virtue of his marriage had gained membership in Virginia’s aristocracy, he most solemnly enjoined in his will that his sons “be brought up to some mechanical profession.” William Waddill announced in 1767 his intention to open shop “next door below the Old Printing Office” in Williamsburg. He called himself a “Goldsmith and Engraver” and offered to buy up old gold and silver and rework it “in any taste the owner chooses.”