The Goldsmiths' Company , London , 1327-

There is evidence of a guild of Goldsmiths in London as early as 1179. In 1300 King Edward I passed a statute defining metallic standards and regulating assaying of silver vessels. However it was not until 1327 that the Goldsmiths' Company received its first Royal Charter in 1327, which granted it the right to elect Wardens to enforce good authority and the standards within the trade, and emphasised its standing over provincial goldsmiths. In 1339, nineteen goldsmiths purchased land at the north end of Foster Lane for the use of the Goldsmiths' Company. In 1341 the Goldsmiths sought to extend its privileges in order to help those injured at work as well as the poor and for this purpose obtained a licence to purchase and hold tenements and rents.

In 1364, a new statute of King Edward III ruled that every goldsmith must have his own mark, which was to be known by the Company, and that objects must not be marked until they had been assayed and found good.

King Richard II granted the Goldsmiths a new charter in 1392-1393, and from this time the Company was to be a perpetual community, to elect annually four Wardens to 'oversee, rule and duly govern the said craft and community'. Under this charter the company was also able to purchase estates and rent tenements, to accept charitable donations and to retain a chaplain. The Company's rights were further increased by Letters Patent from Edward IV in 1462, which confirmed its previous charters, as well as granting the Wardens to be a body corporate, to make bye-laws and ordinances to regulate the Company, the retain its right of search and powers of punishing offenders in London and elsewhere.

At this time, the whole Company met three times a year to hear the ordinances read aloud and ratify the decisions of the Wardens. The Company also appointed two Renters each year to collect the rents and monitor the condition of the properties, four Auditors, and Clerk and a Beadle. The Company year began on 19 May, St Dunstan's day, with a solemn procession to church followed by a feast.

In 1478, King Edward IV issued a statute making the Goldsmiths' Company specifically responsible for wares found below standard, with due penalties. It set the gold standard at 18 carats in order to differentiate between the old wares, condemned in the statute and future wares. The King's mark - the leopard's head, was to be shown crowned on the new wares. The Wardens undertook a major reorganisation to establish a system of control, which involved the appointment of a Common Assayer, a full time post with a salary of £20 per annum, and a quarterly levy to be paid by Company members. The Assayer was also given his own mark (now known as the date letter), which was changed annually on St Dunstan's day.

The Goldsmiths first property, purchased in 1339, was located much where today's present Hall stands in Foster Lane, and was a merchant's house. Various sections of this structure appear to have been rebuilt over time. A new Hall was erected from 1634-1636, on an enlarged site, in the Palladian style of red brick ornamented with Portland Stone. This building was gutted in the Great Fire of London, 1666, though the plate and records were saved, and rebuilding was not completed until 1669. In 1681, the Assay Office and apartments of the Assayer and Clerk in the south west wing of the building were burned down, and along with it the records of makers marks, and had to be rebuilt. By the early nineteenth century, this building was in a dilapidated state and in 1829 was demolished. Philip Hardwick was commissioned to produce plans, and the new building opened in 1835.