Objects derived from noble metals were usually marked with signs, so-called features. Their appearance on goldsmith’s products, their number and significance were related to regulations issued by craftsmen’s guilds, then also by city and state authorities. These small marks with numbers and symbols in various shapes, which often remind us of cavities, are an extremely valuable source of information about the artwork. It is possible to specify several types of symbols when recognizing their elements and functions.

Welcome cup was a decorative container for drinking beer in guild inns during important celebrations. Its Polish name wilkom comes from the German greeting willkommen [welcome]. Each newly arrived guest had to empty the cup filled with an alcoholic beverage in honour of the guild. The production of such cups developed in Germany in the 2^nd half of the 16^th century, and later spread throughout Europe.

A children’s crown, open-work, closed by two yokes, on the junction of which there is a sphere with a trace of a broken-off cross. The ring is decorated with eight fleurons: four with palmetto-ribbon patterns at the base of the yokes, and four leaf-like ones. The crown, on the other hand, is decorated with colourful glass imitations of gemstones of a cabochon cut and various faceted cuts.

Spring clocks, which were invented in the 15^th century, have improved with time. Gradually they were constructed smaller and smaller, and at the beginning of the 16^th century they were of such a size that they could be placed on the table. One of popular types of such clocks was a horizontal timer with a mechanism placed in a polygonal, flat casing with a horizontal disc on the top.

The counter of the City Council is a chest which served counsellors for storing the Mayor’s ring (stamp) and writing accessories (today a nib holder, an inkpot and a sand-box have been preserved) and perhaps other valuable documents and precious items belonging to the city.

It is one of the most magnificent Baroque, secular works of Polish goldsmithery preserved in the collection in the world. The scenes most emphasized on the goblet are connected with weaving. This was the main source of income for the residents of Leszno in the 17^th century. Two of them illustrate everyday occupations – shearing and weaving, and the third one clearly has a allegorical meaning.

The ring was purchased for the museum collection in 1998 in one of the antique shops in Sącz. According to the owner of the shop, the ring was found among other objects hidden in one of the houses in Nowy Sącz during the war. The exhibit has a great historical value, as only a few similar objects could be found in Polish museum collections.

The silver fowler of the Kraków Fowler Brotherhood is one of the most valuable objects in the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków. This is an example of the work of an outstanding goldsmith of Renaissance Kraków. Unfortunately, we do not know either the artist's name or the goldsmith's workshop responsible for the creation of the bird's sculpture. Very few of the marksmen's societies can boast of an original, well-preserved, cockrel of this type.

The head is made of gold with six feathers fully covered with an engraved and chiselled floral ornament with niello petals, leaves and palmettes. At the end of the head there is a screwed-in pear-shaped pinnacle with embedded rubies and diamonds. When screwed out, it enables the feathers to protrude.

The find is dated back to the 1^st half of the 5^th century (before 434). It is one of the most interesting pieces of proof of contact between the peoples inhabiting the area of southern Poland and the Huns in the 1^st half of the 5^th century. The grave was discovered by accident in 1911 while mining sand. The majority of the excavated objects were smuggled to Kraków over the then Russian-Austrian border.