| Hallmarking puzzles most people. They don't know | | | | than half a gram.This is to save costs - |
| what the symbols stand for or why jewellery has | | | | hallmarking can be expensive. |
| to be hallmarked. When our customers ask about | | | | So how do jewellers get a hallmark? Well , you |
| hallmarked silver and we tell them that ours is | | | | buy some silver or gold , make something with it |
| "pure silver , 999 standard" they look puzzled | | | | and if the final piece is over 7.78 grams or |
| because most people assume that sterling silver is | | | | whatever , you have to send it off to the Assay |
| the "ultimate" standard and can't understand that | | | | Office of your choice. In the UK you can choose |
| there are higher grades of silver than sterling. We | | | | from London , Birmingham , Sheffield or Edinburgh. |
| usually have to take down our hallmarking poster | | | | They are all independent and actively "tout" for |
| and give a sermon on hallmarking! | | | | business. We deal with Birmingham but have had |
| Amazingly , hallmarking has been around since | | | | reps from other Assay Offices visit us at Trade |
| early times. Edward 1 of England passed an act in | | | | Shows and try to charm us... |
| 1300 establishing sterling silver and making marks | | | | You have to register with an Assay Office and |
| on each piece of jewellery with a punch | | | | have your own mark and leave your stamp with |
| compulsory. | | | | them. In addition , every time you sell your |
| So how can you tell if your jewellery is | | | | jewellery , even in a street market , you have to |
| hallmarked? You'll probably need a magnifying | | | | display an Assay Office poster. It's not unknown |
| glass like the ones you've seen jewellers with , | | | | for Trading Standards officials to visit exhibitions |
| stuck in their eyes as they closely examine a | | | | to check your status and see if you are |
| piece of jewellery. If you can only see a mark | | | | complying with the act. |
| saying "925" then that's not a hallmark in the UK. | | | | The main thing to remember about the hallmark is |
| It's just a "control mark" put there by the | | | | that the numbers (eg 925 ) are out of a thousand |
| manufacturers to indicate that they think it's | | | | so the higher the number , the better the grade |
| sterling silver. But to comply with the law there | | | | of metal. With sterling silver , this means that 75 |
| has to be a mark made by the Assay Office. In | | | | parts out of a thousand is not silver - it is copper |
| the UK this will be a mark with 3 symbols : firstly | | | | , which is added to make the pure silver easier to |
| a mark (say 999 ) denoting the type of metal | | | | work with by hardening it. Pure silver is quite soft. |
| and its quality , secondly the maker's mark (ours | | | | Most of the silver we work with is 999 - fine |
| is JC ) and finally the year of marking. | | | | pure silver which is quite a different colour to |
| But even if there's no proper hallmark , don't | | | | sterling silver because there is nothing added to it. |
| worry! Your jewellery could be too light to be | | | | With gold , much more base material is added. 9 |
| hallmarked. Most silver jewellery is very light - | | | | carat gold for instance is hallmarked 375 because |
| earrings , for instance. If silver is less than 7.78 | | | | it is only 37.5% gold. 18 carat is 75%. as you can |
| grams it doesn't have to be hallmarked. Gold less | | | | imagine pure gold is very expensive and you can |
| than 1 gram is exempt and with platinum it's less | | | | see why it has to be diluted! |