Smith, John Alexander, Notice of a Silver Chain Or Girdle, The
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PROCEEDINGS of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Our full archive of freely accessible articles covering Scottish archaeology and history is available at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/psas/volumes.cfm National Museums Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh www.socantscot.org Charity No SC 010440 NOTICE OK ANCIENT SCOTTISH SILVER CHAINS. 321 NOTICE O SILVEA F R CHAI GIRDLER NO E PROPERTTH , THOMAF YO S SIMSON BLAINSLIEF O , , ESQ., BERWICKSHIRE; ANOTHERE TH N I , POSSESSIO E UNIVERSITTH F NO ABERDEENF YO OTHEF O D R AN , ANCIENT SCOTTISH SILVER CHAINS. Br JOHN ALEXANDER SMITH, M.D., F.S.A. SCOT.1 (PLATES XII., XIII.) Silver square-sided Chain, Blainslie, Berwickshire.—Throughe th politenes f Kobero s t Romanes, Esq., writer e loath n ,t Laudergo o wh , of this chain for me from Thomas Simson,2 of Blainslie, Esq., I am ahle te oSociety th e chaiexhibi o t r Th girdlo nt . i t e measure fee4 s 3 t inches in length, it is formed of a four-sided or " herring bone" series of links, J of an inch across the side, and weighs 7 ounces 11 dwts. At one extremity there is a circular plate or disk, measuring 2J inche e othen diameteri th s t a conicara d r tassel-likan ,o l e pendant, inche3 s in lengt aboud han t 1J inc greatesn hi t diameter nea basee th r . The chain itself measures 48^ inches in total length, and is attached' e a bassilve.t oth f o e r hook, whic s fastenei h cire e bacth -th f kn o do cular silver plate, towards its margin. It is divided into seven portions of varying length y opeb , n circular link r ringo s f silvero s , which measure from, half an inch to -| of an inch in diameter. The first por- e chaith tio f nno nex e circulath t r plate measure s2 fee inche4 t n i s length nexte th ; , If inch thirde th ; , 2J inches fourthe th ; , 2| inches; e fifthth , 3|- inches e sixthth ; , 5^ e incheslast th inche6 ,d an ;n i s length. The circular plate is ornamented, having engraved on its front two concentric circular bauds, with scrolls of foliage between them, and^he Eoman letters B. C. in the centre. On the back of this disk there is fixed a large silver open hook, \\ inch in length, to the base of 1 This communication was read before the Society at the meeting on the 12th May s publicatio1872It . e lasth t n volumni e Proceeding th f o e unavoidabls wa s y pre- vented. (See Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. ix. p. 532.)' 2 I regret to state that before these sheets could he published Thomas Simson, Esq., died at Blainslie, on the 20th January 1874. X VOL . PARx . I T 322 . PliOUEEUINGS OF THE SOCIETY. whic chaie hth s fastenedi n . Ther e threear e separat e stampsdi e , side e platy e sidbacth b •th n f eo o k itself e firsth ;a monograt o tw f mo AVr initialso A ; V nex, n imperfectla t y struck stamp, which, from its embattled appearance, appears to represent a castle, and is appa- d castlrentlol e yth stam f Edinburgho p d lastan ;, another mono- graminitiale . th D f . o , sR e tassel-likTh e terminal pendan s alsi t o ornamented wit serieha f so engraved leaves, each rising from a central stem, which springs from the projecting ring near its base, and runs upwards towards its top; fro same mth e projecting ring other ruder stripe r leaveso s taper down- wards toward e bottomth s , which terminate smala n si l open ring about incn a f h£o across. Thstampe edi s roundee bace struc th mucf th o f ko n e ko hlar interest, s theassisy a yma judginn i t e datth ef go when placd an , e wheree th , chain was made (see Plate of Chain, XII. I.; and fig. 1, the die stamps figured above it.) e firsTh t pai f theso r e e platinitialprobablbace y th th f e ma ko n so y be styled the Maker's Mark, bein initiale makee garticleth e th th f f so ro , which was the oldest stamp struck on Scottish silver plate. Mr J. H. Sanderson informs us in his paper on. " The Plate Marks use n Scotland,di e Proceedingth f "o publishe 1 f 54 o s . p n voldi . iv . the Society, that the Maker's Mark was introduced by an Act of the Scots Parliament in 1457. By the same Act of the Parliament of n Jame1457i t . i wa,II s s declared "That gol dt wors worno e eb k than xx. grains fine, and silver xi. grains fine, and that it he marked by the maker and deacon, or head officer of the toun." These individuals used the initial letters of their names as marks; e hav sw othin o e s e f seconinitialsplateo th t n e additioi ,se d th , n also mad f somethino e g equivalen a standar o t t d mark, showine th g quality of the metal. It was not, however, until 1759 that the Corpora- e Goldsmithth tio f o n f Edinburgo s h introduce e morth d e formal " Standard Mark "—a thistle for Edinburgh, which has been continued down to the present time. The Town Mark, indicating .the place where the plate was made—for Edinburgh, the castle—was next added by an Act of the Scots Parlia- ment in 1483. NOTIC " ANCIENE01 T SCOTTISH SILVEI3 t32 CHAINS. Date Th e Mark, shewin e yeagth r whe e plat mades th n ewa , whics hi generally a special letter on an escutcheon, was introduced in 1681. Lastly, the Duty Mark—the head of the reigning sovereign—was not introduced until 1784. absence Th f thes eo laso tw et stamps from, this silver dis f coursko e points to its being of an older date than 1681 ; and the same idea of age is also home out by the character of the ornamental engraving on the plate itself t therefori ; e belong n oldea o rt s. periodJ H r . M . Sanderso s seee nsamha th ninforme eh style m f e slettero eth s a s engraved initials on Scots plate from about 1616 to 1670. A learned authority in all such matters—A. W. Franks, Esq., &c., of the British Museum—to who mI sen a photograpt f thio h s silver chai d platan n e —conjecture e medallio e th dat th f s o e r circulao n r e abouplatb o t et 155 r 1560o 0 t this bu e ;says h , s onli , y surmise f I thi. s surmiss i e correct it would take this chain back to a time when we know silver chains were wor s ordinara n y e waistgirdleth r dresr d fo ,fo an ss ornament. Fairholt W s wor M. hi "F rn Costumo kn i , England,n i e " London, 1847, 8vo, when referring to the use of the girdle, or ceinture for the waist, mentions that they sometimes took the form of chains, particularly e tim th f Mar o eElizabetn d i yan thad an th; som f the o ed larg mha e pendants at their ends. He also states that on monumental brasses of an older date, the girdles had circular plates, bosses, 01 studs in front, and that the mode of fastening these was not known. In this chain or girdle, with a somewhat similar circular plate, the fastening is seen, as I have already described it, to consist simply of a hook fixed on the back of e circula th e plate th f n o whico r,e link on he chai r loopth o s f no s ma hookede yb ; this probably explaine fasteninth w s madsho wa g n i e e morsomth f eo e ancient example o whict s r FairholhM referreds ha t . In the Museum of the Society there is a small broken stone statue of a robed female figure, whic discoveres hwa takinn di g down som walld eol s t Bannatyna e House, Newtyle, Forfarshire t i show; e manneth s f o r wearing a chain girdle. The style of this chain is more open in character; it has, however, the large disk for fastening it at the waist in front, in this instance of an ornamented oval shape; and the pendant part of the chain falls toward s beee rob e skirha th n frontn i th e f s t o I alst . o 4 32 PKOCEEWNG SOCIETYE TH E SO . suggested that this chaihavy ma ne been worn oveshouldee on r d an r across the chest, instead of as a girdle round the waist. The latter however, seem mose s havinsth it tf likelo gy beeywa n worn. populae Th r stor f thiyo s Blainslie silver chai gives nwa fuln ni l detail by Sir Walter Elliot of Wolfelee, K.C.S.I., F.S.A. Scot., in his annual address as President of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. It is pub- lished in their Proceedings for 1869, and from it I shall make a few quotations. r WalteSi r Elliot relates how Thomas Hardi s tenan portioa ewa f o t n of Tollies-Hill, calle e Midsiddth e Farm severA .