Jewellery Hallmarks: What To Look For

When it comes to jewellery insurance, you need to know that the item that you’re insuring is exactly what it’s supposed to be. One way of doing this is by taking a look at the hallmarks that may be present. Certainly, at the time of investing in a new piece of jewellery, it’s vital that you know just what you need to be looking for.

Jewellery insurance is something that will vary depending on the item that you’re looking to protect. If your jewellery is made of precious metal, then a hallmark can give you peace of mind. We’re going to explore just what hallmarks mean and what you should be looking for when it next comes to investing.

What are hallmarks?

Hallmarks exist to give those buying precious metals a guarantee that what they’re purchasing is pure. They are official marks that are struck only on items that are made from the following precious metals:

Gold

Silver

Platinum

Palladium

With jewellery insurance, it’s important to know if the item that you own is actually precious. Within the UK, regulations state that there has to be a minimum amount of one of the four metals, in pure form, for it to be classed as precious.

Hallmarks aren’t something that are optional. When items reach a certain weight, there is a legal requirement to include one. These weights mean that jewellery such as small stud earrings may well be made of precious metals, but they don’t have to carry a hallmark.

Just how important are hallmarks?

Hallmarks are hugely important because they are there to protect consumers. The precious metals that are required to be hallmarked are extremely valuable and that means that there is a high risk of fraud. Criminal gangs have the ability to try and fool innocent buyers with items that aren’t the real thing. If you take a look at a gold piece of jewellery, it’s very easy to take a non-precious metal and simply plate this with gold. This would give it the feel and the appearance of the real thing but it would be nowhere near as valuable.

When sight and touch alone aren’t enough to verify the ‘fineness’ of a piece, consumers and suppliers are left in a vulnerable position. This is where hallmarks come in as a method of providing that a piece is genuine.

Who is responsible for adding a hallmark?

Given the fact that hallmarks are incredibly important, there are restrictions in terms of who can hallmark precious metal. When exploring jewellery insurance and locating the hallmark on your piece, it will have been added by the Government Assay Offices.

These Assay Offices ensure that precious metals are tested so that their levels of purity can be ascertained. These tests mean that you can be sure that any hallmarked piece is genuine and that you can avoid buying fakes. The hallmark will only be applied if the precious metal meets the legal requirements.

There are four offices in the UK that conduct these tasks and these are based in:

London

Birmingham

Sheffield

Edinburgh

What are the types of hallmarks?

Before taking out jewellery insurance, you’ll need to check out the hallmark on your piece. When you do this, it’s possible to come across two different types: laser and stamp. The traditional method of adding a hallmark is stamping. However, stamping a hallmark was not always ideal or suitable. That’s because it was common for delicate or hollow pieces to be damaged.

The use of lasers has now become the most common method of hallmarking. That’s because it protects jewellery from the potential damage that can be caused by stamping and it also provides results that are extremely subtle.

What to look for with hallmarks

As of 1999, there have been three parts that go into making up a hallmark and all three components are compulsory. These are:

The sponsor’s mark

Also referred to as a maker’s mark, this symbol shows the individual or the firm that is responsible for sending the item to assay. The sponsor has to pay a fee to have this mark registered at any of the four offices. This registration expires after 10 years, at which time it needs to be renewed.

Standard mark

This mark is used to show the fineness of the precious metal in parts per thousand. This is important when it comes to jewellery insurance as it reveals the percentage of pure palladium, gold, silver or platinum that’s present in an item. The number given is surrounded by a shield and the shape of this shield indicates what type of metal the item is:

Silver - Oval

Gold - Oblong with cut corners

Platinum - A five-sided house-type shape

Palladium - Since 2010 this has been indicated by adjoining circles

Town mark

This mark shows the Assay Office that has carried out the tests. As well as this, and the other two marks that we’ve looked at, there are also three other optional marks that you might come across. These are:

A date letter

Pictorial marks

Commemorative marks

Will all precious metal jewellery have a hallmark?

As we have already seen, small items may not carry a hallmark. Another instance when hallmarks may not be present is when you’re considering an antique piece. It wasn’t until 1972 that hallmarking was made mandatory and that means that there are plenty of items that exist that carry no hallmark at all.

This can make antique and vintage jewellery a little challenging and expert advice will be needed to ensure that a piece is genuine.

Need help protecting your hallmarked jewellery?

If you have a piece that you now know is made of precious metal, you may well want to seek out specialist jewellery insurance to ensure that your item is adequately protected. At Highworth Insurance, we’d be delighted to provide the protection that your jewellery deserves. Simply get in touch and let our experts save with you just what your options are.