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Gold and silver were the mainstays of our financial system and were obvious materials for personal adornment, symbolising status and wealth. The methods which were used to turn the base metals into wire and thread for the ornamenting of clothes became the trade secrets of a medieval craft guild. The book highlights the connections with the trade, and of the trade itself. Among the historical details, there is an interesting account of the intrigues by which the 17th-century industry obtained from the Crown protection against competition from cheap imitations.