Birmingham
Birmingham has a rich heritage as a centre for jewellery manufacturing and trade, with its historic Jewellery Quarter still home to hundreds of workshops and businesses. For UK jewellers, wholesalers, and suppliers, the city remains a vital hub for production, design, and distribution. Jewellery Focus covers Birminghamโs role in the industry, from updates on local businesses and manufacturing trends to insights into policy developments and events shaping the trade. Our reporting helps professionals understand the cityโs continuing influence on the UK jewellery sector.
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Jan- 2019 -28 JanuaryAuctions
โHistoricโ Australian brooch auctioned for almost ยฃ10,000
A rare, colonial Australian brooch has been sold for just under ยฃ10,000 at Fellows Auctioneers in Birmingham last week (24 January 2019). According to the group, pieces with โaboriginal detailโ are infrequently offered for sale at auction, and the item depicts an emu and kangaroo amongst native flora โ a…
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14 JanuaryMetal Prices
Platinum up 9.4% in December; Overall 2018 results revealed
Platinum hallmarking increased by 9.4% in December 2018, compared with the same period the previous year, despite overall volumes decreasing by 2.1% according to figures compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office. The number of gold pieces hallmarked decreased from 322,033 in December 2017 to 312,281 in 2018. Silver and palladium…
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11 JanuaryAuctions
Fellows to auction watches from the Queenโs goldsmith
Watches belonging to Stuart Devlin, a gold and silversmiths who held a royal warrant to supply gold and jewels to the Queen, are due to go under the hammer at Fellows in Birmingham on 24 and 29 January. A diamond watch by Jaeger LeCoultre and a gentlemanโs 18ct white gold…
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Dec- 2018 -18 DecemberManufacturers
Gold drops 2.8% in November hallmarking
Gold hallmarking fell by 2.8% in November 2018 compared with the same period the previous year, this is despite overall volumes increasing by 1.8% according to figures compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office. The number of gold pieces hallmarked decreased from 492,537 in November 2017 to 478, 589 in 2018.…
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Nov- 2018 -28 NovemberUncategorized
Three-Minute Interview: Paul Platnauer
Describe yourself in three words? Integrity, drive and passion. When you were at school, what did you want to be and why? I always planned on going into the family business when I left school making me the third generation of R Platnauer Ltd, over 25 years ago, and to…
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23 NovemberFeatures
A hallmark of the future
Changes in the market have driven the Birmingham Assay Office to invest heavily in the technology to apply hallmarks by laser during the past decade. Laser marking is now an established method for applying statutory hallmarks but its potential as a way to differentiate and add value to products is…
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22 NovemberFeatures
What is x-ray fluorescence testing?
The change in the UK jewellery market during the past 15 years has been dramatic and irreversible. Items made outside the UK now outnumber UK manufactured articles by about nine to one and there has been a significant increase in silver and mixed metal articles and those which are hollow…
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16 NovemberFeatures
Saying โYesโ to platinum
Platinum has been successfully marketed as the ultimate precious metal and has proved relatively resilient to recent financial turmoil. Volume in the platinum market is very much driven by the bridal market and it has fared slightly better than gold and silver. Platinum is firmly established as the luxury option…
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14 NovemberMetal Prices
Strong double-digit growth for gold and platinum in October hallmarking
Hallmarking increased by an average of 1.6% in October 2018 compared with the same period the previous year, according to figures compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office. This was supported by double-digit growth in gold, increasing by 60,849 to 509,390 hallmarked pieces, and platinum, rising by 4,593 to 28,652 items…
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9 NovemberCrime
Birmingham gold bangle scam trio jailed
Three jewellers who falsely claimed that sets of gold bangles they manufactured and sold were made from higher quality gold have been jailed for a total of 14 years. Ibrar Hussain, 38, and Sabhia Shaheen, 40, of Shiza Jewellers, based at 681 Stratford Road, together with 47-year-old Mohammed Afsar, known…
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