GUILDS, THEN AND NOW

Made to
a standard.

Guilds were the quality control of the Middle Ages.

People in the same craft lived and worked near each other and banded together to regulate competition and keep standards high. In London, the goldsmiths' system of testing and marking still protects buyers more than 700 years later.

SINCE 1300 tested and marked

Check a metal

A craftsperson's hands polishing a silver spoon at a wooden workbench scattered with small hand tools — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Train the next generation
Keep standards high
Look after members
Medieval ideas that never went away

THE SHORT ANSWER

Guilds set the rules
for their trades.

London's livery companies grew out of medieval craft guilds.
Their biggest legacy for shoppers is the hallmark.

CRAFT GUILDS

Regulating the trade

The early London guilds controlled the making and selling of most goods and services in the Square Mile, and stressed good training from the start.

How guilds worked

LIVERY COMPANIES

Dressed the part

Guilds that adopted their own clothing and regalia, or livery, became known as livery companies. Today there are more than 100.

See the numbers

HALLMARKS

Named after a hall

Once Goldsmiths' Hall became the home of a permanent assay office, its marks became known, probably, as hall marks.

Read a hallmark

A QUICK HALLMARK CHECK

Does it need
a hallmark?

In the UK, an article sold as gold, silver, platinum or palladium must be hallmarked unless it weighs less than an exemption weight. Pick a metal to see its limit. The bar shows how heavy an item can be before a hallmark is needed.

Under the Hallmarking Act 1973, as explained by Trading Standards guidance for England, Scotland and Wales.

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Old standards,
living companies.

One figure from 1300,
one from the City of London today.

92.5%

Pure silver required by the statute of 1300

A statute of 1300 required silver to be of sterling standard and sent wardens of the craft from shop to shop to test it and stamp the leopard's head mark.

STERLING · ASSAY OFFICE

100+

Livery companies today

In 1515 there were 48 companies. Today there are more than 100, including over 30 modern companies for professions such as accountants, surveyors and architects.

LIVERY COMPANIES · WCI

The earliest surviving guild charter in London was granted to the Weavers' Company in 1155, and the peak period for forming guilds was the 14th century.

READ A UK HALLMARK

Three marks
tell the story.

Look on the back or inside of a piece with a magnifier. A UK hallmark struck by an assay office has three compulsory marks, and may have two optional ones.

Sponsor's mark
Shows who made or submitted the item. It must be registered with an assay office.
Fineness mark
Confirms the precious metal content, for example sterling silver at 92.5% pure.
Assay office mark
Shows which of the four UK offices tested it: Birmingham, Edinburgh, London or Sheffield.
Optional extras
A pictorial mark, such as the sterling silver lion, and a date letter whose style shows the year.

A close-up of tiny stamped marks on the back of a silver spoon, seen through a jeweller's loupe — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

A grand old wood-panelled hall with a long polished table and tall windows, set for a formal dinner — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

HOW GUILDS WORKED

More than
a trade club.

Guilds set up halls that served as meeting places and as venues for settling trade disputes. London street names still recall where individual trades gathered. Early guilds were also duty-bound to care for members in sickness and old age.

Training was central from the start. From the 1870s the companies extended it to technical education, and the City and Guilds Institute, founded in 1878, is still prominent in vocational education today.

Questions

Questions people ask

What was a medieval guild?

A group of people in the same craft who organised together to regulate competition within their trade and maintain high standards. In London some guilds trace their origins to the 12th century.

Why are they called livery companies?

Some guilds introduced their own distinctive clothing and regalia, known as livery, to set their members apart from other guilds, and they became known as livery companies.

Where does the word hallmark come from?

The London Assay Office says that once Goldsmiths' Hall became the home of a permanent assay office in the late 15th century, it is probably from this that the term hallmark originates.

Does all gold and silver jewellery have to be hallmarked?

Items sold as precious metal must be hallmarked unless they are under the exemption weight: 1 g for gold and palladium, 7.78 g for silver and 0.5 g for platinum. Coins are also exempt.

Do guilds still exist?

Yes. There are more than 100 livery companies in the City of London today, supporting trade, education, charity and fellowship, and new modern companies represent professions.

Made to
a standard.