Silver

Marks first. Where the punches can be read, the date on the plate is the assay date and the entry is as exact as the year letter allows; where they are worn, struck over or absent, the date widens to a decade and says so. Two conventions in one section look like carelessness until you know which is which, so the precise dates are the marked pieces and the loose ones are not.

Gilding complicates the photograph more than the object. A gilt surface throws the studio back at the camera, so these plates are shot with the sweep well behind the piece and the highlights left where they fell; retouching them out would take the metal with them.

The section holds raised work, cast work and one travelling set complete in its case. The case matters: a toilet service is a set before it is a group of objects, and catalogued apart it would read as a shelf of small things instead of one large one.