Refiners and mints stamp their products with the purity and fineness in place of hallmarks. This is because they are considered raw material, and their purity is guaranteed by the London Bullion Market Association. Investment gold – such as the bullion bars and coins sold by .uk – are exempt from gold hallmarking laws. It is currently illegal to sell an item as gold (weighing more than 1 gram) unless it has been appropriately hallmarked by an assay office.

Since 1972 the UK has been part of the International Convention of Hallmarks, which helped to standardise gold hallmarks around the world. At times there were more assay offices, but the current UK assay offices are located in London, Sheffield, Birmingham and Edinburgh. An assay office continues the practice of testing precious metal items, and independently assuring their purity. Today, hallmarking is done by assay offices in major cities across the UK. This group became England’s testers for gold and their stamps became known as hallmarks. Gold hallmarks truly started with the ‘Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths’ who met at Goldsmiths Hall in London. This was tested by ‘Guardians of the Craft’, who would mark the items with a leopard-head stamp. As far back as the 14th century it was legally required for silver items to be 92.5% pure (known as Sterling Silver), and for gold items to be 80% pure. The UK has used gold hallmarks for centuries. The reality however is that gold hallmarks help to provide an impartial guarantee of an item’s purity.Ī gold ring being stamped with a hallmark. In an ideal world, manufacturers would be trustworthy enough to stamp their own products. When selling scrap gold, including unwanted jewellery, this purity is important in getting an accurate valuation. This could mean the item is anything from 90% pure gold to 37.5% pure gold.

To increase the durability of gold jewellery, other metals are mixed in various amounts with different affects.

This is necessary because pure gold is soft, and would be unsuitable for many applications (jewellery in particular). Gold hallmarks offer owners an indication of the amount of gold contained in an item.

Antique gold ring no hallmark