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 Birmingham’s 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 city’s continuing influence on the UK jewellery sector.
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May- 2014 -15 MayRetailers
Birmingham jeweller fined £25,000 for breach of Hallmarking Act
A Birmingham jeweller was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment earlier this week, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay a total of £25,000 after pleading guilty to 17 offences, under the Hallmarking Act 1973. Amjad Mahmood Yousif, trading as Crown Jewellers at 39 Formans Road, Sparkhill, was ordered to…
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7 MayTrade Organisations
Ground broken on new Birmingham Assay Office site
Birmingham Assay Office bosses joined members of their building project team to begin work on the site of the new building at Icknield Street last week. The Assay Office has been at its current home in Newhall Street since 1877, and says that the move within the Jewellery Quarter “demonstrates…
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2 MayAnalysis
FEATURE: The End of the Gold Rush
The gold price has stabilised, and the slump in gold hallmarking has bottomed out. And now that the commodity traders are losing interest, MICHAEL NORTHCOTT asks whether the scrap-buying craze has caused any lasting change to the market. Two very significant trends have appeared that will likely have a profound…
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Apr- 2014 -9 AprilEvents
Holts Academy to celebrate apprenticeship pilot scheme success
Holts Academy has announced it will host an event celebrating the success of 14 apprentices recruited through the Holts Birmingham ‘apprenticeship pilot scheme’. The event, which will be held on May 14 at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, will give local employers a chance to network and find…
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7 AprilEconomy
Q1 hallmarking figures rise 23%, gold jewellery on the up-and-up
The number of articles hallmarked across the four UK assay offices rose by 23 per cent in the first three months of 2014 compared with the same period the previous year, according to the latest figures. In a statement, the Birmingham Assay Office revealed that the best performers were 9ct…
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1 AprilTrade Organisations
Gary Wroe elected as new BJA chairman
The British Jewellers’ Association (BJA) has appointed Gary Wroe as its new chairman. Wroe, who is managing director of Birmingham-based Hockley Mint, was elected by a vote of the BJA’s national committee late last week. He will succeed Gary Williams who steps down at the end of April. Speaking to Jewellery…
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Mar- 2014 -14 MarchEvents
Weston Beamor to sponsor New Designers’ Award
Birmingham casting and rapid-prototyping firm, Weston Beamor, has announced that it will once again be sponsoring an award at New Designers, the annual exhibition showcasing work of newly graduated designers from the UK’s leading universities. The Weston Beamor Award for ‘The Most Innovative Use of CAD in Jewellery Design’ will…
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14 MarchEconomy
Hallmarking figures for 9ct gold rise more than 33%
Figures released today by the Birmingham Assay Office show that the number of 9ct gold items hallmarked across all four UK assay offices rose more than 33% in February, compared with the same period the previous year. After 9ct gold, the next best performing category was sterling silver, which is…
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8 MarchTaking Stock
Presman Mastermelt
Scrap and workshop waste specialist processors based in Hatton Garden opened the Birmingham counter just under a year ago and it is trading well, partly thanks to the advertising campaign reminding traders that it is a long-established company (1945) which is still expanding worldwide because of its reputation as an…
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6 MarchEvents
Birmingham council to sell NEC for £1bn
The venue for Jewellery & Watch Birmingham, the NEC, has announced that its owners Birmingham City Council are planning to sell the entire complex for around £1bn. Birmingham’s council has been at the centre of a lengthy dispute over equal pay. The legal bill and the money needed to settle…
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