April 2021

A hallmark is a set of marks applied to articles of the precious metals gold, silver, platinum or palladium. It means that the article has been independently tested, and that it conforms to all legal standards of purity (fineness).

It guarantees provenance by telling us where the piece was hallmarked, what the article is made from, and who sent the article for hallmarking. Contrary to popular belief ‘925’ is not a hallmark. Often you will find metals stamped with the number ‘925’ for Sterling Silver, this number alone does not constitute a legal hallmark and is not guarantee that the metal is of the purity claimed.

The Full Traditional Hallmark comprises five marks:

• Sponsor’s mark – mine is LP for my initials.
• Traditional fineness mark – a symbol indicating which precious metal your piece is made from (optional).
• Millesimal fineness mark – how fine, or what quality the metal is, and the metal type.
• Assay Office mark – London Assay Office is a leopard  
• Date letter mark – the date denoted by a letter of the alphabet (optional)

This is the standard mark applied to my jewellery.

Precious metals are rarely used in their purest form but are usually alloyed with other metals for workability, durability, wearability. It isn’t possible to detect an article’s precious metal content by sight or touch. Therefore, it is a legal requirement for an Assay Office to hallmark articles containing precious metals if they are described as such. (Weight exemptions apply for items below certain weights.  For silver 7.78g, gold and palladium over 1g, and platinum over 0.5g to have a UK recognised hallmark.)

To comply with the UK Hallmarking Act (1973), all precious metals above a specified weight must be hallmarked in order to be sold to the public. 

I am registered with The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office in London; all my items above the required weights are hallmarked.  For example all my sterling silver items weighing 7.78g or over are hallmarked.

Items have to be sent for hallmarking, this can incur a delay in custom orders, please consider this if items are required for a specific date. All items in my Etsy shop which are available for immediate dispatch will have already been hallmarked.

Generally, other items selling for £50 and over are also hallmarked, this is not a legal requirement but provides providence when buying more expensive jewellery.

(Information source and for more information visit https://www.assayofficelondon.co.uk)