Here's a question that might turn up someday in Who Wants to be a Millionaire: what is an assay master? The holder of this splendid-sounding job is Ronald Le Bas, whose family has held the same post for several generations. Le Bas is the person responsible for overseeing the hallmarking of precious metals. Every single item of precious metal made for sale in this country, or imported for sale, must be sent to the Assay Office to be tested. If Irish-made items - jewellery or larger decorative objects - do not have the correct amount of gold, silver, or platinum in them, they will be smashed and returned. If they are imports, they will be rejected, and returned as they are.
The Assay Office of the Company of Goldsmiths of Dublin has been located in an old building in the grounds of Dublin Castle, since 1925. Le Bas dislikes the building as it has long been inadequate for the office's needs. But for a visitor the lovely old-fashioned place is all atmosphere and charm - with its curved stairwell lined with huge paintings and black-and-white photographs of past goldsmiths; a grandfather clock marking time in the hall, which has belonged to the Company of Goldsmiths for some 200 years; and the small labyrinth of rooms where the precious metals are tested, which has the aura of an alchemist's workshop.
Le Bas's family were originally French Huguenots, practising goldsmiths who came to Ireland in 1776. His great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather and father were all assay masters before him, which is a remarkable record of family service under any circumstances. However, Le Bas says that he doesn't want any of his own children to follow him into the profession, so it seems as if the long tradition will stop with him.
Every piece of precious metal offered for sale in this country must carry a hallmark from this office. If you're wearing, for instance, a piece of jewellery that you know to be silver, take it off and have a look at it. It has at some stage, before you bought it, been through the doors of the Assay Office. There should be four tiny marks stamped on it: the initials of the jeweller who made it; a harpist, known as the "Hibernia mark" to show that the piece was marked in Ireland; a harp, called the "Harp Crowned" which means the item meets the required purity level of silver; and a letter, which identifies the year the piece was made. This year's letter is "O". The letters run through the alphabet, with different fonts for each cycle.
There are some years which have had special commemorative hallmarks. Among them are 1966, when a sword of light marked the 50th anniversary of the Rising; 1973, when the Glenisheen Collar marked Ireland's entry to the EEC; and this year, with a special millennium symbol. These hallmarks only appear on large items; they are not stamped on small items such as jewellery - and they do add value to the piece.
"We used to use our silverware a lot more," Le Bas observes. "Now people put it in cabinets, but silver improves with age and handling." It's hard to imagine it now, but was once an enormous and busy silverware factory on the corner of Fleet Street and Westmoreland Street, where the ESB office now stands. Apart from silver cutlery, teapots, salvers and such items, there was also a huge turnover of ecclesiastical objects. All church items used abroad had to be silver, which accounted for a vast amount of output. Vatican II changed this rule, deeming mandatory use of precious metal in poor countries to be inappropriate. "That's when the bottom fell out of silversmithing in Ireland," Le Bas says.
On a shelf in Le Bas's office, which is crammed with books, paintings and beautiful objects awaiting dispatch to their owners, is a row of handbound ledgers. These log the items which have been left into the office to be tested for hallmarking since the charter was first granted in 1637. Le Bas pulls out one 18th-century ledger at random, and opens a page. There are columns of names written in copperplate, many of which have "sword" next to them. For a moment, I wonder what sword means, and then realise it means exactly what it says: 250 years ago, scores of people were leaving in their silver-bladed weapons to be hallmarked. It's one of those unexpected moments when you can see clearly into the vista of history.
The Assay Office has a large collection of antique gold and silver, which is so valuable it has to be kept in the vaults of the Bank of Ireland. The items were last seen in public in 1987, when they were exhibited for the 350th anniversary of the Company of Goldsmiths of Ireland.
Members of the public can also use the services of the Assay Office. If you want to find out if that piece of unmarked jewellery you bought on holiday is precious metal, for the modest fee of 21 pence for a silver item and 35 pence for gold, you can leave in your own items to be tested - and hallmarked if it passes the test. And, no, the office won't smash it to pieces if it turns out not to pass the test: they only do that to items which are intended to be offered for sale commercially.
The Assay Office, Dublin Castle, is open Monday to Friday, 8.30 a.m. to 4.15 p.m. (closed for lunch from 12.20 p.m. to 12.50 p.m.). Tel: 01-4780323