Hallmarking

What is a hallmark?

A hallmark is the mark applied to jewellery by one of the four assay offices in the UK.

The Assay office will test the jewellery to ensure it is made of the precious metal that it is claimed to be, and apply the hallmark to confirm this.

Hallmarking Exemptions

Only jewellery over a certain weight limit legally requires a hallmark - over 7.78g for silver and over 1g for gold.

Sending jewellery to an assay office for hallmarking incurs a cost, so most jewellers only send jewellery that exceeds the weight limits, to keep the cost down for their customers.

For silver jewellery under the weight limit, jewellers tend to stamp '925' on these items to indicate it has been made from sterling silver. This is not a legal requirement, but tends to be reassuring to customers.

International Hallmarks

The information on this page applies to jewellery within the UK. Every country has their own laws on hallmarking, and not every country will accept the UK hallmark when selling jewellery oversees online. This is one of the reasons I am not able to offer shipping to every country. You can find out more about this on my shipping policies page.

Watch this video from the London Assay Office

Or you can visit their website by clicking the button below

London Assay Office

Got any questions?

Feel free to contact me using the button below if you'd like anymore information about hallmarking

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