Gold hallmarks offer owners an indication of the amount of gold contained in an item. This is necessary because pure gold is soft, and would be unsuitable for many applications (jewellery in particular). To increase the durability of gold jewellery, other metals are mixed in various amounts with different effects.
This could mean the item is anything from 90% pure gold to 37.5% pure gold. When selling scrap gold, including unwanted jewellery, this purity is important in getting an accurate valuation. In an ideal world, manufacturers would be trustworthy enough to stamp their own products. The reality however is that gold hallmarks help to provide an impartial guarantee of an item’s purity.
A gold ring being stamped with a hallmark.
Antique gold hallmarks
The UK has used gold hallmarks for centuries. 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. This was tested by ‘Guardians of the Craft’, who would mark the items with a leopard-head stamp.
Gold hallmarks truly started with the ‘Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths’ who met at Goldsmiths Hall in London. This group became England’s testers for gold and their stamps became known as hallmarks.
Assay Office
Today, hallmarking is done by assay offices in major cities across the UK. An assay office continues the practice of testing precious metal items, and independently assuring their purity. At times there were more assay offices, but the current UK assay offices are located in London, Sheffield, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
Since 1972 the UK has been part of the International Convention of Hallmarks, which helped to standardise gold hallmarks around the world. 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.
Investment gold – such as the bullion bars and coins sold by GOLD.co.uk – are exempt from gold hallmarking laws. This is because they are considered raw material, and their purity is guaranteed by the London Bullion Market Association. Refiners and mints stamp their products with the purity and fineness in place of hallmarks.
Gold Hallmark identification
Gold items should have a minimum of three hallmarks, but could contain four or five depending on the country and assay office. Identifying current marks is relatively straightforward; stamps are listed on the official assay office website. Older gold hallmarks can be more difficult to identify, mainly because the age of the item will likely have worn the hallmark. Antique gold hallmarks are very well catalogued however, with dedicated collectors collating centuries of records.
The legally required hallmarks should be the ‘Sponsor’, ‘Standard’, and Assay Office. The ‘Sponsor’ mark is the maker, refiner, or manufacturer. The ‘Standard’ mark is the purity or fineness in parts per thousandth – 999 being 99.99% pure, and 375 being 37.5% pure. The Assay Office mark shows which assay office performed the test.
The Birmingham Assay Office is the largest in the world, and has an anchor on it's side as the mark. The London Assay Office has continued to use the centuries-old traditional stamp of a Leopard’s head. The Sheffield Assay Office used a Crown stamp until 1974, when the Yorkshire Rose was adopted. Edinburgh’s Assay Office (officially known as Assay Office Scotland) used a three towered castle for many years, before being switched to a thistle, and in 1975 to a rampant lion.
There may be other hallmarks however; the date is fairly common, and is indicated by a single letter. Purity used to be symbolised by varying images, such as animals in the image above.
Fake gold hallmarks
Unfortunately, because of the high-value nature of gold, it is perhaps unsurprising that unscrupulous people attempt to produce fake gold items. One of the simplest ways to try and convince someone a fraudulent item is made of real gold, is to stamp it with fake hallmarks.
A jeweller, or experienced bullion dealer, will be able to spot these fakes, but it could catch out the untrained eye. Although the whole point of a gold hallmark is to guarantee quality, it could still be a fake gold hallmark.
At GOLD.co.uk we buy scrap gold items at market-leading rates. If you have an old item with gold hallmarks, you can speak to our team today to get a quote, simply call 0121 369 3000.
