BY the beginning of the 18th century, Norwich had overtaken York as England’s second city in terms of wealth and population, so it seems rather strange that its assay office closed in 1702. It had first marked silver in the 1560s, just after York, where the office survived until 1858, and examples by Norwich smiths are rare. It is no surprise that their work should have been among the collecting enthusiasms of the mustard-making Colman family.
A sale at Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet last month included a small number of lots from the collection of Sir Timothy Colman, KG (1929–2021), who had been Lord-Lieutenant
