WHAT IS A HALLMARK?
A hallmark is your guarantee that the piece of jewellery you are buying is made of a certain fineness of precious metal. It is a physical mark that can either be stamped or laser etched onto the item by one of the four UK Assay offices.
A hallmark is always comprised of three compulsory marks.
The sponsors or makers mark which tells you who made the item or put it on the market.
The fineness mark which tells us the precious metal the item is made from and the fineness or purity of that metal.
Thirdly the Assay office mark telling us where the piece was tested and hallmarked.
There are four hallmarking offices in the UK, based in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh, all have their own distinctive mark.
You may also see a letter as part of the hallmark, this indicates the year the item was hallmarked.
There are also some special marks which you may come across. The two most recent being the late Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee mark and King Charles III Coronation mark.
You can find out more of the hallmarking and it's history going back to 1300 in the links below.
WHEN DOES AN ITEM NEED TO BE HALLMARKED?
An item of jewellery if being sold as silver, gold, platinum or palladium legally has to be hallmarked if it is over a certain weight. The weight varies depending on the metal it is made from. Sterling silver must be hallmarked if over 7.78gm, gold and palladium if over 1g and platinum if over 0.5g.
WHERE IS AWD JEWELLERY HALLMARKED?
My sponsers mark is registered with the London Assay office who have been testing and hallmarking metals since 1300.
I send away all pieces that are required by law to be hallmarked along with any special higher value items that may be under the designated weight.
If you would particularly like your finer piece of jewellery hallmarked then this can be organised for an additional fee.
