Economy
Gold and platinum up in May hallmarking

Both the number of gold and platinum pieces hallmarked in May 2019 increased by 1.4% and 12.4% respectively, according to figures compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office.
Gold hallmarked pieces increased from 294,530 to 298,654 and platinum items increased from 24,768 to 27,847 during the month.
However, this was offset slightly by the average volume of silver decreasing by 4.2% from 322,299 to 308,620. Palladium also decreased significantly by 65.2% to 2,783 hallmarked items.
Overall hallmarking in May decreased by 1.8% from 649,602 to 637,895 pieces.
Month May -18 | Month May-19 | Variance | % | |
Gold | ||||
999 | 38 | 16 | -22 | -57.9 |
990 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 300 |
916 | 38,177 | 34,780 | -3,397 | -8.9 |
750 | 62,193 | 66,336 | 4,143 | 6.7 |
585 | 10,454 | 15,176 | 4,722 | 45.2 |
375 | 183,667 | 182,333 | -1,334 | -0.7 |
294,530 | 298,645 | 4,115 | 1.4 | |
Silver | ||||
999 | 1,839 | 1,179 | -660 | -35.9 |
958 | 960 | 2,805 | 1,845 | 192.2 |
925 | 319,493 | 304,547 | -14,946 | -4.7 |
800 | 7 | 89 | 82 | 1171.4 |
335,827 | 308,620 | -13,679 | -4.2 | |
Platinum | ||||
999 | 6 | 19 | 13 | 300 |
950 | 24,718 | 27,662 | 2,944 | 11.7 |
900 | 28 | 90 | 62 | 105.6 |
850 | 16 | 76 | 60 | -61.5 |
24,768 | 27,847 | 3,079 | 12.4 | |
Palladium | ||||
999 | 0 | 362 | 362 | 0 |
950 | 6,376 | 1,279 | -5,097 | -79.9 |
500 | 1,629 | 1,142 | -487 | -29.9 |
8,005 | 2,783 | -5,222 | -65.2 | |
Totals | 649,602 | 637,895 | -11,707 | -1.8 |