Warning carrier notices were printed squares of paper that warned local jewellers and silversmiths of lost or stolen silver and jewellery. The notices described the scene and date of the crime, gave details of the object(s), provided an address to which they could be returned, and often offered a reward. They were carried by messengers employed at Goldsmiths’ Hall, and records indicate that there were three main ‘Walks’ around which these notices were carried, each approximately five miles long and taking in between 200 and 550 addresses! The messengers would visit goldsmiths, bankers, pawnbrokers, jewellers and watchmakers, notifying them of the missing items in the hope of reuniting them with their owners. The practice of distributing warning carrier notices had been in operation since the 16th century, when it is said that ‘every sovereign from Henry VIII to Charles I paid an annual reward to the beadles of Goldsmiths’ Hall for searching the shops of the London guildsmen for plate stolen from Court! Indeed, between 1558 and 1596, 15,600ozt of plate is said to have ‘disappeared’, with around a quarter described as having been ‘stollen and embeasled by untrue persons as well as gret Feastes and marriages…!’(A.J. Collins, The 1574 inventory of the jewels and plate of Queen Elizabeth)

The notices (as is the case for both examples offered in this sale) had handwritten annotations of ‘Single’ or ‘Double’ across the top. Research has shown the The Goldsmiths’ Company employed a two-tier system for circulating warning carrier notices.  ‘Single’ notices were distributed to goldsmiths alone, and accordingly were the less expensive of the two options (11s 8d), while ‘Doubles’ were circulated to every address listed, incorporating jewellers, bankers, pawnbrokers, watchmakers and goldsmiths for £1 3s 4d.

Some notices (this example is one such notice) are pierced with a hole where they are believed to have been threaded onto a string for filing.