The goldsmiths of Dundee were also incorporated with other trades under the common denomination of 'Hammermen' . This association of trades was at one period discontinued, but it was subsequently revived.

  The earliest reference to any goldsmith contained in the burgh records is of the year 1517, when one Ronald McGreig, goldsmith, became a burgess.Of their charter no trace is to be found, and the oldest record which pertains to the Dundee goldsmiths is known as the "locked-book"",the entries in which were commenced in 1587.It contains the names of the master-goldsmiths then working and ( with apparently some omissions ) the names of others admitted from that date down to the 19th century. There is also "The Fully Booked Journeymen's Book",covering the period 1657-1792, with numerous gaps.

  The arms of the burgh of Dundee-adopted by its goldsmiths as their town mark-are azure a pot of growing lilies argent. It appeared, with four exceptions,upon every example of Dundee plate which was known to Jackson. The pot always has two handles, varying slightly in form, as do the flowers,but all are easily recognisable by the general resemblance they bear to each other. Various other marks were used as well as, or instead of ,the pot of lilies,particularly in the 19th century.

  Early in the 19th century Alexander Cameron added the mark of a thistle, after the manner of the Edinburgh mark. The thistle was used also by Edward Livingstone, and two two other goldsmiths whose initials were RN and RH respectively, but whose names have not been ascertained.Cameron used an additional stamp bearing the town name {DUNDEE} in full.

  From an early date in the 18th century various single letters occur with the other marks, some being Script others Roman. Those associated with the marks of the two Charles Dickens appear to be their own private series of date-letters, in parallel with those of Edinburgh , where both men were members of the Goldsmith's Incorporation. Random letters used by subsequent makers must, however, have some other significance. 

  There remain some unidentified workers in the 19th century; the initials AD, JP, AHW, JJ, R & S, and others are found with what appeared to be Dundee marks, some of which look rather 'tinkerish'.