MARK OF ELIZABETH HASELWOOD, NORWICH, 1697-1701

The rare mark on this tankard dates from the extremely short period of hallmarking in Norwich, which started with the 1697 proclamation which decreeded that the fineness be raised from Sterling to Britannia Standard. This prevented the Norwich silversmiths from using their existing marks of a crown rose and a lion passant with crown above. They adopted an unofficial system using a shaped oblong mark 'F SIL' meaning Fine Silver, together with an uncrowned leopard's head, the letter N for Norwich, and a leopard's head erased. G. N. Barrett in Jackson's Silver & Gold Marks of England, Scotland & Ireland, Ian Pickford ed., Woodbridge, 1989, p.339, lists only three pieces struck with these marks, one a tankard by Elizabeth Haselwood, presumably this lot.