The impact of the coronavirus on UK hallmarking has been made clear to see thanks to the latest figures from the Birmingham Assay office, with the total number of pieces hallmarked during the month down by 75%.
The number of gold and silver pieces hallmarked in May 2020 decreased by 83.1% and 67.3% respectively.
Gold hallmarked pieces decreased from 298,645 to 50,464 and silver items decreased from 308,620 to 101,064 during the month.
Additionally, palladium decreased by 80.7% to 536 items hallmarked during the period. Platinum hallmarking also decreased by 74% to 7,235.
Overall hallmarking in May decreased from 637,895 to 159,299 pieces.
| May-19 | May 20 | Variance | % | |
| Gold | ||||
| 999 | 16 | 50 | 34 | 212.5 |
| 990 | 4 | 0 | -4 | -100 |
| 916 | 34,780 | 1,036 | -33,744 | -97 |
| 750 | 66,336 | 10,135 | -56,201 | -84.7 |
| 585 | 15,176 | 1,191 | -13,985 | -92.2 |
| 375 | 182,333 | 38,052 | -144,281 | -79.1 |
| 298,645 | 50,464 | -248,181 | -83.1 | |
| Silver | ||||
| 999 | 1,179 | 1,365 | 186 | 15.8 |
| 958 | 2,805 | 165 | -2,640 | 94.1 |
| 925 | 304,547 | 99,522 | -205,025 | -67.3 |
| 800 | 89 | 12 | -77 | -86.5 |
| 308,620 | 101,064 | -207,556 | -67.3 | |
| Platinum | ||||
| 999 | 19 | 0 | -19 | -100 |
| 950 | 27,662 | 7,234 | -20,428 | -73.8 |
| 900 | 90 | 1 | -89 | -98.9 |
| 850 | 76 | 0 | -76 | -100 |
| 27,847 | 7,235 | -20,612 | -74 | |
| Palladium | ||||
| 999 | 362 | 0 | -362 | -100 |
| 950 | 1,279 | 114 | -1,165 | -91.1 |
| 500 | 1,142 | 422 | -720 | -63 |
| 2,783 | 536 | -2,247 | -80.7 | |
| Totals | 637,895 | 159,299 | -478,596 | -75 |
