Showing posts with label identify gold hallmarks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label identify gold hallmarks. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Hallmarking The Queens Diamond Jubilee NEW

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is being commemorated by a special hallmark. It is available from each of the four UK assay offices and the design has been approved by the British Hallmark council.

Known as the Diamond Jubilee mark, it can be used on gold, silver, palladium or platinum and looks set to become popular with royal collectors and people looking for a precious metal investment, alike.

The Diamond Jubilee mark features a youthful Queen set into a diamond shaped surround, facing right and wearing an over sized crown.

This hallmark has been in production since 1st July 2011, and will run until 1st October 2012.



It is available for use on all precious metal articles and was applied with the appropriate date letter ‘m’ until 31 December 2011 and with ‘n’ throughout 2012.

The mark was unveiled last year and will suit the many gold and silver commemorative pieces already in production.

Birmingham assay office describe the new hallmark and the Diamond Jubilee as a great commercial opportunity and urged gift ware and jewellery manufacturers last year to get designing in readiness for this historic occasion.

Silversmiths and goldsmiths are already busy with commemorative items to mark this important event, which will be the first time in living history that we have had a monarch on the throne for 60 years.

The commemorative pieces are not yet widely available, but expect that to change as the Diamond Jubilee Year gathers momentum.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Buying Gold for beginners

Gold has been sought after for its unique blend of near indestructibility, beauty, rarity and because of its status as a means of exchange and universal currency par excellence for centuries.

Empires and nations have sought to possess gold as a medium of international exchange, as a store of wealth and in order to increase and preserve power. Individuals have used gold as a store of wealth and as insurance against the fluctuations and depreciation of paper money and to protect against other macroeconomic and geopolitical risks.

Throughout history, perhaps no other asset in the world has had the universal appeal of gold and this appeal has increased in recent times due to the very significant macroeconomic, geopolitical, monetary and systemic risk facing our modern global financial system and economy.

Successful investing is about the diversification and management of risk. In layman's terms this means not having all your eggs in one basket. We know from history that markets can and do crash and if you are not properly diversified your nest egg can be severely affected.

Friday, April 1, 2011

How rare is Gold


Gold is extremely rare: According to all geological experience it is found only in low concentrations in rocks. Its average concentration in the Earth's crust is 0.005 parts per million.

In the world, there are currently somewhere between 120,000 and 140,000 tonnes of gold 'above ground'. To visualise this imagine a single solid gold cube with edges of about 19 metres (about three metres short of the length of a tennis court). That's all that has ever been produced.

Divided amongst the population of the world there are about 23 grams per person, about 1.2 cubic centimetres each. This equates to about £155 - £215 worth per person on Earth, depending on the current price.

Gold still underground: Where it is known about with reasonable confidence, and can be extracted economically, un-mined gold appears on the books of mining companies as reserves. There remains as reserves about 40% of the total of gold above ground, i.e about 50,000 tonnes. South Africa has 50% of the world's known stock of un-mined gold.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

How to identify gold hallmarks

To identify gold hallmarks you will need to have a good look at the hallmarks on your piece of gold. You should see between 2 – 5 marks. These will relate to the golds standard, the maker, the date, the percentage of gold purity and where the object was tested or valued. This is known as the Assay Mark.

Hallmarks are small markings stamped on gold, silver and platinum articles. A British Hallmark means that the article has been independently tested and guarantees that it conforms to all legal standards of purity (fineness). These tests are carried out only by an Assay Office, of which there are four in the UK – London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

Until 1798 gold hallmarks were the same as silver hallmarks. Up to 1854 only 18 carat and 22 carat gold were recognized. The hallmarks were shown by a crown followed by either .916 for 22 carat gold or .750 for 18 carat gold.

Dates after 1854 3 more were allowed to be marked and they were 9 carat gold, 12 carat gold and 15 carat gold.

These carats were indicated by
.375 for 9 carat gold,
.5 for 12 carat gold and
.625 for 15 carat gold.


The crown mark was not used with these as it was only used for 18 carat gold and 22 carat gold.

After 1931 12 carat gold and 15 carat gold was no longer used and was replaced by 14 carat gold and indicated by the number .585.

A full set of gold hallmarks can consist of the crown which denotes the gold standard, the assay mark which tells you:
Where the item was assayed,
The Gold Standard
The makers mark,
The date letter,
The percentage of gold content marked as a decimal.

Despite the hallmarking act, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian gold jewellery is not always hallmarked as the hallmarking act only covered large items so hallmarking on jewellery was not required.

From: Read Full Article