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The total number of hallmarked items rose by 0.8% in February, an increase of 5,970 articles compared with February 2015.
That’s according to the latest figures released today by the four UK assay offices, and compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office, which found there was a total of 766,310 articles hallmarked in February compared with 760,340 in the same month last year.
The number was pushed up by a strong performance for the high-value category of gold, with 22-carat and 14-carat reporting increases of 45.1% and 33%, respectively. 18-carat was the only type of gold to report a decline in hallmarking, down 1.8%.
In total, the number of gold articles hallmarked climbed 29,506 to 403,168, up 7.9% from the 373,662 articles hallmarked in February 2015.
Silver reported a decline of 6.9% as the number of hallmarked items fell by 24,801, while palladium reported the greatest decline in the number of hallmarked items, down 3,600 (26%) when compared with last year.
Meanwhile, platinum reported the greatest increase in the number of items hallmarked – up from 20,385 last year to 23,985, an increase of 17.7%.
| Month | Month | Variance | % | |||
| Feb-15 | Feb-16 | |||||
| Gold | ||||||
| 999 | 113 | 150 | 37 | 32.7 | ||
| 990 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | ||
| 916 | 34,582 | 50,191 | 15,609 | 45.1 | ||
| 750 | 67,524 | 66,287 | -1,237 | -1.8 | ||
| 585 | 7,513 | 9,990 | 2,477 | 33.0 | ||
| 375 | 263,930 | 276,550 | 12,620 | 4.8 | ||
| 373,662 | 403,168 | 29,506 | 7.9 | |||
| Silver | ||||||
| 999 | 1,168 | 1,924 | 756 | 64.7 | ||
| 958 | 1,128 | 623 | -505 | -44.8 | ||
| 925 | 354,982 | 329,861 | -25,121 | -7.1 | ||
| 800 | 38 | 107 | 69 | 181.6 | ||
| 357,316 | 332,515 | -24,801 | -6.9 | |||
| Platinum | ||||||
| 999 | 25 | 0 | -25 | -100.0 | ||
| 950 | 20,327 | 23,975 | 3,648 | 17.9 | ||
| 900 | 24 | 7 | -17 | 100.0 | ||
| 850 | 9 | 3 | -6 | -66.7 | ||
| 20,385 | 23,985 | 3,600 | 17.7 | |||
| Palladium | ||||||
| 999 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 100.0 | ||
| 950 | 8,001 | 5971 | -2,030 | -25.4 | ||
| 500 | 976 | 668 | -308 | -31.6 | ||
| 8,977 | 6642 | -2,335 | -26.0 | |||
| 760,340 | 766,310 | 5,970 | 0.8 |
