Hallmarking Of Gold And Silver Jewellery

Hallmarking puzzles most people. They don't knowthan half a gram.This is to save costs -
what the symbols stand for or why jewellery hashallmarking can be expensive.
to be hallmarked. When our customers ask aboutSo how do jewellers get a hallmark? Well , you
hallmarked silver and we tell them that ours isbuy some silver or gold , make something with it
"pure silver , 999 standard" they look puzzledand if the final piece is over 7.78 grams or
because most people assume that sterling silver iswhatever , you have to send it off to the Assay
the "ultimate" standard and can't understand thatOffice of your choice. In the UK you can choose
there are higher grades of silver than sterling. Wefrom London , Birmingham , Sheffield or Edinburgh.
usually have to take down our hallmarking posterThey 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 sincereps from other Assay Offices visit us at Trade
early times. Edward 1 of England passed an act inShows and try to charm us...
1300 establishing sterling silver and making marksYou have to register with an Assay Office and
on each piece of jewellery with a punchhave 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 isjewellery , even in a street market , you have to
hallmarked? You'll probably need a magnifyingdisplay 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 ato check your status and see if you are
piece of jewellery. If you can only see a markcomplying 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 thethat the numbers (eg 925 ) are out of a thousand
manufacturers to indicate that they think it'sso the higher the number , the better the grade
sterling silver. But to comply with the law thereof metal. With sterling silver , this means that 75
has to be a mark made by the Assay Office. Inparts 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 metalwork with by hardening it. Pure silver is quite soft.
and its quality , secondly the maker's mark (oursMost 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'tsterling silver because there is nothing added to it.
worry! Your jewellery could be too light to beWith 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 7.78it is only 37.5% gold. 18 carat is 75%. as you can
grams it doesn't have to be hallmarked. Gold lessimagine pure gold is very expensive and you can
than 1 gram is exempt and with platinum it's lesssee why it has to be diluted!