What is a Hallmark?

A hallmark is a quality control mark placed on an article made of precious metal to indicate the purity of the metal, also known as an assay or standard mark. There may also be other marks alongside the hallmark such as the makers mark and the assay office

UK hallmark symbols give the following information:

• who made the article (makers mark)
• what is its guaranteed standard of fineness (purity)
• The Assay Office at which the article was tested and marked
• The year in which the article was tested and marked

AB Sponsor or maker	Standard Mark	Assay Office Mark	2008

Sponsor’s Mark or makers mark

This shows the person or company responsible for sending the article to the Assay Office. The sponsor may be the manufacturer, retailer, importer, for example.

Standard Mark

This shows the standard of fineness – the purity of the precious metal, in parts per thousand.

eg:

The background shape shows the metal (silver). The figure shows the article consists of 925 parts of silver by weight to 75 parts of other metals – i.e 92.5% Silver.

Current Gold Standards

9 carat 37.5% Gold	14 carat 58.5% Gold	18 carat 75% Gold	22 carat 91.6% Gold

Current Silver Standards

	Sterling 92.5% Silver	Britannia 95.8% Silver

Current Platinum Standards

Assay Office Mark

This indicates which assay office the article was hallmarked by

Birmingham	London	Edinburgh	Sheffield

Metals Such as Titanium and Tungsten Carbide are not considered to be precious metals and therefore are not required to be hallmarked