The Library is open between
10 am and 4.30 pm,
Tuesday to Thursday
The Goldsmiths' Company,
Foster Lane,
London EC2V 6BN
The closest stations are :
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths or the Goldsmiths' Company is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of London. In 1327 the Company received its first royal charter, giving it the right to enforce good authority, the standards within the trade and emphasising its standing over provincial goldsmiths. This marked the beginning of the Company’s formal existence as a craft guild, with St. Dunstan as its patron saint.
The Goldsmiths' Company has been housed in three halls since it was created. We know little about the first one but we know that the second one was built between 1634 and 1636 and before it was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was restored in 1669 before being destroyed in 1829 in order to buy a new hall which opened in 1835. It's the hall we know today.
The Library was established in the 1950s as part of the Company’s mission to promote jewellery and silversmithing. The Library contains over 8,000 books relating to gold and silversmithing, jewellery, assaying and hallmarking, precious metals, and the City of London and its guilds. Other resources include journals, films and special research collections such as the Twining Collection on regalia and royal jewellery.
The library is accessible by appointment only. To make an appointment, discuss your research, or if you have any general questions about hallmarking, silver, jewellery or the history of the Company, please email.
The library is reference only. Therefore, you won't be able to take out any ressources.