To legally sell precious metals in the UK, any item over a certain weight must bear a Hallmark: a stamp or laser marking which proves it’s quality. In fact, Hallmarking is one of the world’s oldest forms of Consumer Protection, with historical hallmarking dating back as far as 1300AD.
But what is Hallmarking? Put simply, it’s the testing of the metal to ensure it meets the legal requirement to be classified as a particular standard. For example, for Gold to be sold as 18ct in the UK, it must be at least 75% pure. Other countries do not operate to these extremely rigorous standards, which is why British Jewellery is considered some of the finest in the world.
Where does Hallmarking take place? At an Assay Office: an institution completely independent of any Jewellery brand or retailer. The UK has four Assay Offices, each of which has their own unique stamp to mark items they have tested:
Sheffield: Yorkshire Rose, Birmingham: Anchor, Edinburgh: Castle, London: Leopard
For our own fully bespoke work we use Sheffield Assay Office, and those pieces proudly carry the Yorkshire Rose mark.
A Hallmark itself consists of several different stamps or marks which are applied to the Jewellery piece and inform the customer about the item they are purchasing. Some marks are compulsory:
The Sponsor mark – the stamp of the Company or Individual registered with the Assay Office who submitted the item for Hallmarking
The Fineness mark – indicating the standard of metal used
The Assay mark – indicating the Assay Office where the metal was tested and stamped
There are other additional marks which may be used:
The Crown – for gold items
The Lion Passant – for 925 ‘Sterling’ silver items
The Britannia – for 958 ‘Britannia’ silver items
The Orb – for platinum items
And finally the Date Letter which indicates the year the piece was marked.
A new typographic alphabet is issued every 25 years and excitingly 2025 marks the start of a new cycle, so pieces stamped with the date letter for 2025 will proudly feature the new Letter A.
We would love to discuss Hallmarking and the new Date Letter A with you in more detail when considering the creation of your next special Jewellery piece.
