What is Hallmarking?

Written By Laura Sissons

Hello!

Today I wanted to talk about hallmarking jewellery, in the UK all jewellery legally needs a hallmark if it is over a certain weight as follows:

  • Silver 7.78gm

  • Gold and Palladium 1gm

  • Platinum 0.5gm

Any jewellery under these weights do not need to be hallmarked.

A hallmark is made up of a series of marks as follows:

  • Makers Mark (mine is LKS)

  • Material Mark (Sterling Silver is 925)

  • Assay Office Mark (London Assay Office is a Lion)

  • Date Letter for the year it was hallmarked in.

Hallmarking essentially proves what the material is, however, it is expensive and can take up to 10 working days to be hallmarked depending on how busy the Assay Office is. Due to the cost and time involved I would rather pass this saving onto my customers.

So, if your jewellery doesn’t have any hallmarks maybe legally it doesn’t require one, also bear in mind that other countries have different rules so if you bought jewellery in another country, it may not carry a hallmark.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and finding out more about hallmarking, all the facts have been taking from the London Assay Office’s website, if you would like to find out more then click here to go straight to their website.

See you next time!

Laura

 

Laura Sissons
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