My first hallmarked box

I finally got round to having my silver box, made a year or so ago from casting sprue scraps, hallmarked with my own Sponsor's Mark at my local assay office in Greville Street. Local, that is, to Steve Wager's workshop in Hatton Garden where I do my smithing. I was somewhat nervous that the assayers would find my box not of hallmarking quality, since it is always possible that some scrap ended up in the melt that wasn't of the standard demanded, i.e. 92.5% silver; but it was returned with the base hallmarked as desired, as in the second picture. Steve then showed me how to flatten the unevenness induced by the hallmarking using a strip of lead and a hammer on one side, and a steel block on the other, to give the much-improved version in the third picture.



Now, of course, I am planning on having other items hallmarked; e.g. a small silver spoon, also made from casting sprues...