A nice way to invest in silver is to collect silver boxes; these are normally fairly small and will not take up much room. They also cater for most budgets, as depending on the maker, quality and condition you can pay from twenty or thirty pounds to thousands of pounds for your silver box. You can also decide what types of silver boxes you wish to collect; you could just collect a certain type or any silver box. The types of silver boxes you can collect are varied you get Patch boxes, Snuff boxes, Pill boxes, Vinaigrette’s, cigarette/cigar boxes, Lancet cases, Vesta cases, Counter boxes, Toilet boxes, Nutmeg graters and numerous other boxes.
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Antique Silver Hallmarks Part II
Birmingham silver assay mark – I always wondered why the silver assay mark for Birmingham was the Anchor when it is in the Midlands and not near the sea. It is said that the silversmiths who founded the Birmingham and Sheffield assay office in 1773 used to drink in a pub called the crown and anchor, so when two new silver marks were needed they gave Sheffield the Crown and Birmingham the Anchor.
Antique Silver Hallmarks Part I
The English hallmarking system can be traced back to 1300 when the guardians duty was to assay and mark every silver item before it was allowed into the outside world. Any item which is made from British sterling silver will usually bear at least four marks. These marks are the makers mark, the Sterling Standard mark, The Town assay mark and the Date letter. In 1554 the lion passant was adopted as the English silver standard mark, the standard silver mark for Scotland the Thistle for Edinburgh in 1759 and Lion Rampant for Glasgow in 1818. In 1975 Edinburgh also adopted the lion rampant.
