Hallmarking
Hallmarking is a cornerstone of the UK jewellery trade, ensuring the authenticity and quality of precious metal items through independent verification. For jewellers, manufacturers, and suppliers, staying up to date with hallmarking legislation, standards, and practices is essential to maintaining compliance and consumer trust. Jewellery Focus provides expert coverage on hallmarking, including updates from the UKโs assay offices, regulatory changes, innovations in testing, and insights into the role hallmarking plays in supporting the trade.
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Apr- 2016 -6 AprilEditor's Blog
Why it’s important to be a boffin
So how is the industry holding up so far this year? A salient question, but a hard one to answer without some statistical context. On the face of it, the trade is only just holding onto its hat, with a minuscule 0.8% increase in hallmarking volumes in February compared with…
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Mar- 2016 -15 MarchEconomy
Hallmarking edges up in February as number of gold articles jump
The total number of hallmarked items rose by 0.8% in February, an increase of 5,970 articles compared with February 2015. Thatโs 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…
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Feb- 2016 -18 FebruaryEconomy
Hallmarking down 9.1% in January
The total number of hallmarked items fell 9.1% in January, a decrease of 67,252 articles when compared with January 2015. That is according to latest figures released today by the four UK assay offices, and compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office, which found during the month there was a total…
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Jan- 2016 -29 JanuaryTrade Organisations
Edinburgh Assay Office celebrates one year of Heathrow sub office
The Edinburgh Assay Office is celebrating its first full year of operating a sub office at Heathrow Airport. The Hallmarking in Transit (HIT) service, which launched in January last year, was developed to streamline the supply chain for gold and gem set importers. It allows importers of precious metal jewellery…
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25 JanuaryE-Commerce
Online sales โnearly doubleโ for jewellery on โCyber Weekendโ
Online sales of jewellery over Cyber Weekend – the weekend following Black Friday – nearly doubled, according to the Edinburgh Assay Office.ย Figures from the officeโs Hallmarking and Fulfillment Service, which provides online jewellery retailers with integrated hallmarking and direct final mile delivery to consumers, increased โsignificantlyโ in 2015 compared…
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18 JanuaryCurrent Affairs
2015 full-year hallmarking edges upwards
The total number of hallmarked items fell by 1% in December suggesting a flat Christmas, but the annual figures for full-year 2015 edged up by 1% compared with the previous year. Data from all four assay offices in the UK – compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office – showed the…
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Dec- 2015 -23 DecemberAnalysis
RIDING HIGH: Will the gold price ever return to its pre-recession levels?
This year has been defined by a sense that we have finally escaped the clutches of recession. But with Chinaโs growth slowing dramatically and stock markets gripped by panic in recent weeks, some are suggesting weโre on the verge of another, much worse, crash. MICHAEL NORTHCOTT explores where we currently…
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16 DecemberEconomy
Hallmarking up 13% in November
Hallmarking figures in November were up 13% as all metals recorded an overall increase in the amount of articles hallmarked. That is according to the latest data released today by the four UK assay offices, and compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office, which found the total number of articles hallmarked…
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14 DecemberEditor's Blog
Every reason for Christmas cheer
The industry has done a good job of holding steady and ending a decade of contraction this year. The hallmarking figures graph โbottomed-outโ showing modest but definite increases in almost every month of the last 12. If you take the year-to-date from the latest figures available, we are only down…
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3 DecemberEvents
Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office opens first retail hallmarking facility
The Goldsmithsโ Company Assay Office has announced the opening of its first hallmarking facility within a retail jeweller. The in-house assay office, which opened in November, is located within a purpose-built facility at Graff Diamondsโ London workshop in Mayfair. The facility, which has its own dedicated member of the assay…
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