When the Assay Master passes antiques over 100 years old, they are released from our control at Goldsmith's Hall.

The Assay Master will give you details of these items.

Since 1457, the Deacon, or leader of the craft, assayed and marked the members' wares, but in 1681 a separate Assay Master was appointed to oversee this task.

The first Assay Master was John Borthwick.

Joseph Harris (1702 - 1764) was a British blacksmith, astronomer, navigator, economist, natural philosopher, government adviser and King's Assay Master at the Royal Mint.

By early 1736 Joseph knew that he had been appointed to the Royal Mint, as assistant to Hopton Haynes, Master's Assay Master.

In 1749 Joseph was promoted to the senior position of the King's Assay Master, with a specific requirement that he set up a training structure to ensure an orderly succession for the future.

Joseph arranged that, starting at the lowest position in the ranks of the Master's assayers, the next promotion would be to the same position in the King's assayers, then back to the Master's assayers until eventual arrival at the top as the King's Assay Master.

Bernard Ward, Assay Master, Assay Office.

Stanley was appointed as one of the Assay Masters of the Mint in March 1545, following a restructuring and expansion of the Royal Mint under Henry VIII associated with a major effort to prop up the economy by debasing the currency.