British Hallmarks - A Beginners Guide

The British Hallmarking system has, for over 700 years, proved to be of great value to three main interest groups.

Firstly it acts as a genuine reassurance to the public who receive a guarantee of quality. Secondly it provides a quality system to the manufacturer who is given a quality control service at very low cost as well as protection from dishonest competitors. Finally it is of great benefit to the retailer and saves him the near impossible problem of checking standards on all his goods.

The consumer who loses out is not necessarily a wealthy man or woman. For every gold or silver article sold for 1,000 or more there are many thousands sold at a price less than 100. The dishonest dealer finds greater profit selling quantities of fraudulent low-priced articles than occasional high-price ones.

Many other countries do not have a hallmarking system and manufacturers are allowed to put on marks to signify the precious metal content. However, these marks are applied without the article having passed the stringent tests carried out by a third-party Assay Office.

Under-karating, as it is known in the United States, is a very serious problem. It's not unusual for US goods marked 18K to be found on assay to be as low as 14 carat and goods marked 10K have been found to be 8 carat or even less. This deplorable situation has arisen because there has been no effective control of standards at the manufacturing or import stage such as exists under a system of compulsory hallmarking, and in the US there are weak laws and weak enforcement.

And it is not just the US where articles are found to be below the standard stated. The Birmingham Assay Office featured Silver articles in a previous edition of its newsletter which were below the standard marked. Examples included a hip flask from the Indian Sub-Continent which carried a mark Sterling Silver' - the fineness according to the mark being 925 but the actual fineness was 885.5. Also featured a brooch from the Far East with a mark Sterling', again the fineness according to the mark should have been 925 but the actual fineness of the article was found to be a base metal, silver plated.

In countries without hallmarking systems, or with less effective or voluntary hallmarking systems, the number of sub-standard articles produced is much greater than in Great Britain. Without a compulsory system frauds can be perpetrated upon the public with little danger of the manufacturer or importer being caught and the public are, therefore left at risk.

The guarantee given by the British Hallmarking system has been a major factor in the world-wide demand for hallmarked British gold, silver and platinum goods. It is a feature of which the British gold, silver and platinum industry should be especially proud.