VINTAGE Sterling Silver 4-Bar Gate Bracelet with Heart Padlock, 22.5 Grams, 8.25" Closed - Stamped RB Ltd - Lion - Lion head

VINTAGE Sterling Silver 4-Bar Gate Bracelet with Heart Padlock, 22.5 Grams, 8.25" Closed - Stamped RB Ltd on O ring and on the locked heart there is the British Silversmith Marks of E I - Lion (passant mark) - Leopards head - J. A very nice condition locked Gate Bracelet in Sterling Silver. This would be from London, and was purchased during a trip my Mother and Aunt took when my aunt visited us when we lived in Italy. My Mother and Aunt went on that trip to the UK between around 1974-75. STANDARD MARK Since the 14th century the standard for silver in England was set at 11 ounces and two pennyweights in the Troy pound (925 parts in 1000), it was related to money and as far as wrought plate was concerned it had to be as good as money. The Statute 28 Ewd. Cap. XX which introduced this standard reads as follows: "It is ordained, that no Goldsmith of England, nor none otherwhere within the King's Dominions, shall from henceforth....... work worse silver than money". LION PASSANT The 925/1000 (sterling) silver fineness is certified in London and other British Assay Offices by the use of the "lion passant" mark. The standard mark (lion passant) cannot be used on metal different from sterling silver or on silver having silver fineness below 925/1000 because it is severely punished in the UK. LEOPARD'S HEAD In the reign of Edward I it was decided that the fineness of silver for both coin and wrought plate should be standardised and thus the statute of 1300, titled "Vessels of Gold shall be essayed, touched, and marked. The King’s Prerogative shall be saved" , was enacted making sterling (11oz 2dwt in the troy pound) that standard for all English silver. This statute was originally written in old Norman French, in which language the following directive is given: "E qe nul manere de vessele de argent ne parte hors des meins as overers tant qe ele soit assaie par les gardiens du mester e qu ele soit signee de une teste de Leopart". As ‘teste’ translates as head this passage therefore translates as: "......and that no manner of vessel of silver depart out of the hands of the workers until it be essayed by the Gardiens ( Wardens) of the craft, and further that it be marked with the Leopard’s Head,........") J Mark Still working on this one