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.
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Aug- 2016 -24 AugustCurrent Affairs
UK Jewellers launch parliamentary petition to restrict offshore UK hallmarks
A group of UK silversmiths and jewellers have launched a campaign to restrict the use of distinctive traditional UK hallmarks, including city marks, to items hallmarked in the UK. For over 700 years UK hallmarks have only been struck in the UK, but the campaign said that there is now…
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Jun- 2016 -15 JuneEconomy
Gold continues to perform well as overall hallmarking figures fall in May
Gold jewellery continued to perform well in May as overall hallmarking figures fell 7.2% when compared with the same month last year. Hallmarking figures from the four UK assay offices – and compiled by the Assay Office Birmingham – found there was a total of 713,564 items hallmarked in May,…
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May- 2016 -16 MayEconomy
9-carat gold soars 15.8% as overall hallmarking figures fall
The number of 9-carat items hallmarked in April jumped 15.8%, despite an overall decline in hallmarking figures. The latest data from the four UK assay offices – compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office – found there was a total of 790,594 items hallmarked in April, compared with 810,831 in April…
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Apr- 2016 -18 AprilEconomy
9-carat rockets 16.4% in upbeat March hallmarking figures
The total number of hallmarked items grew 5.4% in March, boosted by an 8.2% jump in the number of gold articles. That’s according to the latest data from the four UK assay offices – compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office – which found there was a total of 740,976 articles…
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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. 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…
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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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Dec- 2015 -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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Nov- 2015 -13 NovemberEconomy
Hallmarking figures drop 4.4%
Hallmarking figures fell by 4.4 in October, with gold taking a particular hit. Data compiled from the four UK assay offices by the Birmingham Assay Office showed that the total number of items hallmarked during the period was 1,186,648, down from 1,240,717 last year. Gold was down 3.5%, silver 5.5%, and…
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Sep- 2015 -17 SeptemberEconomy
Hallmarking dips 12.4% in August
Hallmarking figures have dipped for the second consecutive month, down 12.4% in August compared with the same period the previous year. Platinum and palladium enjoyed 3.1% and 14.9% rises respectively, but the much larger categories of gold and silver dropped 8.5% and 17% respectively. In July, the total number of…
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Jul- 2015 -28 JulyTrade Organisations
British Hallmarking Council to recruit four new members
The British Hallmarking Council (BHC) has announced that it is looking to recruit four new members. Established by the Hallmarking Act 1973, BHC protects consumer interests in the jewellery industry by ensuring that there are adequate facilities for hallmarking in the UK and advising the Secretary of State for the…
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