UK Assay Offices
UK Assay Offices play a vital role in maintaining trust and integrity within the jewellery industry, ensuring precious metal items meet legal standards through hallmarking. For jewellers, manufacturers, wholesalers and designers, their work is central to compliance and consumer confidence. Jewellery Focus covers developments at the UK’s Assay Offices, including regulatory updates, technological advancements in testing, and changes impacting the trade. Our reporting also explores how these institutions support the industry with guidance, innovation, and services that affect daily operations for professionals across the jewellery supply chain.
-
Jun- 2023 -16 JuneManufacturers
Hallmarking down 30% in May
The number of hallmarked pieces from the four UK Assay offices dropped 30% year on year in May from 842,236 down to 586,468. The figures mark another month of decline after April saw a decline of 24% and March saw a decline of 36%. Gold hallmarking dropped 18.5% from 336,108…
Read More » -
May- 2023 -15 MayTrade Organisations
Hallmarking drops 24% in April
The number of items hallmarked in the UK from the four UK Assay Offices fell 24% in April 2023 compared with April 2022. All four of the Assay offices collectively hallmarked 245,583 pieces of silver in April 2023, down from 349,654 in the same period in 2022, a drop of…
Read More » -
Apr- 2023 -18 AprilEconomy
Hallmarking drops 35.9% in March
The total number of items hallmarked by all four UK Assay Offices fell 35.9% in March 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, according to data from Birmingham Assay Office. The total number of items hallmarked in March was 591,874, around 320,000 less than the same month in 2022.…
Read More » -
Mar- 2023 -2 MarchNews
New Trustmark Scheme relaunched in March
The world’s first consumer online assurance scheme for the jewellery industry, the Trustmark Scheme, relaunched on 1 March with the support of all four UK Assay offices for the first time. It was first launched in 2012 by the Edinburgh Assay office to reassure consumers that hallmarked jewellery was not…
Read More » -
Feb- 2023 -1 FebruaryNews
Assay Offices approve new King Charles III coronation hallmark
The Assay Offices of the UK has announced the approval of a new hallmark for the coronation of King Charles III. Based on a medal by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS and using artwork supplied by Thomas Fattorini, the mark depicts the King’s head against an oval background. The mark can be…
Read More » -
Oct- 2022 -19 OctoberEconomy
Hallmarking drops -15.8% in September
The total number of hallmarked pieces during September 2022 dropped by -15.8% year-on-year from 1,009,071 to 849,351, marking a decrease of -159,720, according to the latest figures from the four UK Assay offices. Overall, gold pieces dropped -1.1% in September from 390,638 to 386,433, and silver declined by -26.6% from…
Read More » -
Sep- 2022 -16 SeptemberEconomy
Hallmarking rises 13.1% in August
The total number of hallmarked pieces during August rose by 13.1% to 886,746, up from 784, 078 from last year, according to the latest figures from the four UK Assay offices. However, the number of gold pieces fell slightly, down -0.3% from 365,664 to 364,652. Silver saw the only jump,…
Read More » -
16 SeptemberTrade Organisations
Queen’s death sees return of Platinum Jubilee Mark
The four Assay Offices of the UK have announced that the Platinum Jubilee Mark will be made available again from 20 September, following the death of Queen Elizabeth. The announcement comes after consultation with the King’s Assay master and the mark, which was created in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum…
Read More » -
Aug- 2022 -30 AugustTrade Organisations
Sheffield Assay Office joins the NAJ
The Sheffield Assay Office has announced that it has recently become a member of the National Association of Jewellers (NAJ), in a bid to engage “more fully and effectively” with the trade as a whole. The Sheffield Assay Office is currently looking at a number of collaborations with other NAJ…
Read More » -
23 AugustTrade Organisations
The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office joins Created in the UK
The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office has joined the Created in the UK movement by supporting the striking of the new mark on jewellery, silverware and related products. Created in the UK is a scheme developed by the National Association of Jewellers (NAJ) to help designers, manufacturers and retailers promote the…
Read More »
