Description
Jack Spencer, a pair of silver cufflinks, Edinburgh 1975, stamped JS in a shield for Jack Spencer, numbered 135, the feature hallmark panels 1.75 cm square SOLD
Both Jack Spencer and Colin Rockingham (Sales Director of Jack Spencer (Goldsmiths) Ltd) maintain that Jack Spencer was the first, if not one of the first, to make ‘feature hallmark’ jewellery. I have a Spencer silver ingot pendant with ‘feature hallmarks’ as early as 1973. One sees many manufacturers utilising ‘feature hallmarks’ by 1977, in conjunction with the Silver Jubilee mark, this arguably being the zenith of the practise. Mr Rockingham tells me that the demand was such that Jack approached the Sheffield Assay Office Master requesting that a special single punch was made to deliver the marks in a precise spacing to the pieces. This, after a little deliberation, was agreed. Jack was also prompted to register elsewhere, as we see here with Edinburgh. It has been suggested that he also registered at Birmingham. Mr Rockingham also stated that items marked with the Edinburgh assay found more of a ready market north of the border to locals and tourists alike, through their stockists, such as Hamilton & Inches of Edinburgh.
