Ola Senn opens the assay slips, stamped weights and the merchants’ challenge book at the assay table in the Lower Market Hall. Before anyone moves a cart or changes a mark, the crew checks a shallow notch on the old standard weight where a maker’s mark has worn smooth. The deep winter air brings its own pace to the passage.
The latest page holds 50 bars checked against the common weight. Ola Senn reads the previous count (51) before the next mark is made. It is a small pause, long enough for the people at the rail to hear what the number leaves out.
Guilds say one standard hides differences in bar shape; buyers say multiple standards make a fair comparison harder. The current record does not settle that disagreement. The difference between those accounts is visible here: a rule on the board and a working condition just beyond it.
The clerk has matched the claim to its source register and named the missing record. The entry belongs to the district return file at the assay table in the Lower Market Hall. The next check will be made by another crew, asked to repeat the measure without borrowing the first crew’s conclusion.
When the shift closes, the file remains beside the marked place. The assay table will test both systems against the same set of bars. Until then, the route, schedule or allotment stays as it was at the opening bell.
