Hallmarks

A hallmark is an official mark struck on items made of precious metals. This guarantees the purity/fineness of the metal. They are a legal requirement on products of a certain weight — depending on the metal being marked. These are incredibly important to us.

Gold and silver are expensive in their pure forms and are too soft to be used for jewellery, so they are mixed with other metals known as alloys, to make them affordable and stronger. Platinum's density and weight means when combined with other metals it makes it easier to craft. Palladium is rarely used in its purest form, with alloys added it achieves the desired strength and durability.

It can be tricky to see the physical difference between metals such as white gold, platinum and palladium, as they can be very similar in colour, but do vary dramatically in price.

The only reliable guarantee, to ensure the metal purity/fineness has been reached is for the product to be sent to an Assay Office, where it will be tested before being struck with the relevant hallmark.

A hallmark consists of three compulsory parts, made mandatory from 1st January 1999.

Items of minimum fineness, weighing less than the following will not carry a hallmark:

• Gold weighing less than 1 gram
• Silver weighing less than 7.78 grams
• Platinum weighing less than 0.5 grams
• Palladium weighing less than 1 gram

OPTIONAL or VOLUNTARY marks — it is up to the sponsor to request these.

Date letter: This tells you the year in which the item was tested and hallmarked. Only 25 letters of the alphabet are used. A date letter changes in January and runs in alphabetical order. Once all letters have been used, the font will be changed. All four Assay offices use the same font and letter.

Traditional Pictorial Marks: No longer compulsory — a lion head was used on sterling silver and the figure of a woman for Britannia Silver. A crown was used for gold articles.

These are introduced to commemorate significant events, such as:

• A millennium mark (available 1999/2000)
• A Golden Jubilee mark in 2002
• A Diamond Jubilee mark in 2012

International convention mark is not limited to Britain. The convention mark will be recognised by all members within the International convention.

This will mean that articles bearing a convention mark from other countries are legally recognised in the UK, so will not have to be re-hallmarked again here in the UK.

The convention hallmark shows a pair of scales with the fineness of the metal used; this will be stamped in the middle.