Warren and List: Warren is correct in one aspect of his answer.......hallmark or approval on certain items but NOT any currency as money/gold/silver........ .....there was a great deal of this product in early NEW ENGLAND and it was monitored closely by assayers. clue #2: This item MAY have been used for bartering when money was scarce..........but on the other hand, it was made at home as well as in large amounts. clue #3: some tried using base metals with this item, and if caught were punished. Cynthia Moderator of : Ct-River-Valley-L@rootsweb.com VTWindso-L@rootsweb.com CTHartfo-L@rootsweb.com From: Warren Wetmore <WebMerlin@MegsINet.net> Subject: [CRV] Re: Assay Master > A hallmark could not be put on gold and silver items > until they had been passed by the assay master as to > the amount of precious metal in them. > > And without the hallmark they couldn't be sold. > > http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1979/trivia/hallmark.html > > and many other places. It looks like an early form > of consumer protection. > > Best, > > Warren Wetmore > > > ==== CT-RIVER-VALLEY Mailing List ==== > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl ...type in Ct-River Valley ..and when the query pages comes up, put in the name of town and state) > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/CT-RIVER-VALLEY-L/ > http://www.quadrangle.org (genealogical lib for Conn River area) > > ============================== > Free Web space. ANY amount. ANY subject. > RootsWeb's Freepages put you in touch with millions. > http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi > >