MATTHEW BOULTON AND JOHN FOTHERGILL
Matthew Boulton went into partnership with John Fothergill 1762, and their Soho Manufactory, a model of its kind, was housed in its new Palladian building by 1765. In the five years following, the capacity for producing larger silver wares and not merely toys, such as buckles and buttons, increased. From the late 1760s a handful of objects survive made by Boulton and Fothergill in their Birmingham factory but hallmarked at Chester, the nearest assay office. By incessant lobbying and by joining forces with the silversmiths of Sheffield, who were in a similar predicament, Boulton at last received Royal assent for a bill setting up assay offices in the two towns on 28 May 1773. The Birmingham assay office opened on 31 August 1773, with Boulton and Fothergill the first to enter their maker's marks. Silver struck with both their marks is rare. (See K. Crisp Jones, ed., The Silversmiths of Birmingham and their Marks, 1750-1980, London, 1981, pp. 27-29).