MADAM – I write to give some background in relation to your piece on the re-marked bosun’s whistles (ATG No 2282).
As a member of the Antique Plate Committee I was asked by the Goldsmiths’ Company to look at the original sale at Baldwin’s, as two dealers had made comments that a large proportion of them had been altered or had transposed marks, thereby contravening the 1973 Hallmarking Act.
All the suspect whistles were withdrawn and subsequently sent to the Antique Plate Committee at the Goldsmiths’ Hall. The committee condemned a substantial number and under the present law, those pieces were re-hallmarked, making them perfectly legal.