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Hallmarking

Laura Conway

9th December 2016

Here at Navenby Antiques Centre we are proud to adhere fully to the law regarding the sale of precious metals.

The Hallmarking Act of 1973 came into force on the 1st of January 1975 and simplified the law regarding hallmarks on silver, gold and platinum in Britain. According to this act, all items of silver weighing more than 7.8g must be hallmarked before they can be described as silver. For gold it is any item over 1g, and for platinum any item over 0.5g.

In order to comply with this Act, items which require hallmarking must contain a sponsor’s mark (the person responsible for hallmarking the item), a fineness mark (how pure the metal is) and an assay office mark (where the item was tested for purity). A fourth date letter hallmark is optional.

Items manufactured prior to 1950 are exempt from this Law provided the seller can prove the fineness of the metal and that they were manufactured prior to 1950. I have discussed this matter at length with the Assay Office in London, and have been advised that unless the seller can demonstrate the provenance of the item to prove its authenticity, the item must be hallmarked.

Navenby Antiques Centre has registered with the London Assay Office, and has its own sponsor’s mark. Where a dealer wants to sell an item which does not have a full set of hallmarks as required by the Act, they can send the item to the London Assay office for hallmarking. Many antique items made of precious metal do not contain the necessary hallmarks required by today’s law, but were perfectly legal at the time of manufacture. By enabling these items to be hallmarked now, you are assured that the item you are buying is genuine. A date letter does not have to be applied, so there will be no confusion as to the date of the item once it has been hallmarked.

Customers can buy with confidence at our Centre, knowing that we take our legal responsibilities extremely seriously, and that we comply fully with current legislation.