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56 years ago today, two days before his sixteenth birthday, Grant Macdonald travelled into the City of London to register his own sponsor mark, GGM, at the London Assay Office. The mark has been stamped, or more recently lasered, onto all his creations in silver and gold ever since so that in years to come anyone looking at the piece of work will know that it was made by Grant Macdonald.  The other marks that form the hallmark denote the material, the fineness, the leopard’s head identifies that it has been made in London and the letter shows the year.

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Orignally published on the BBC here.

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This week we speak to London-based silversmith Grant Macdonald.

When Grant Macdonald walked out of the Middle Eastern royal palace he says his shoes "hardly touched the carpet".

He had just secured a giant order that would transform his business. And almost 40 years later, the memory still gives him goosebumps.

"It was an amazing feeling... just telling you this now gives me the greatest feeling of achievement,...

If you remember the 1970s, only just remember those years or missed them entirely, you probably have a sense of what they were like. It was the decade that gave us Disco dancing, where even sensible City bankers and politicians let their hair grow a bit longer and wore their moustaches and sideburns with pride. It was also a decade of energy crises, industrial action and genuine economic problems. A mixed bag, perhaps, compared to the peace and love of the 1960s, and high powered, high tech 1980s.