Did you know that hallmarking is the oldest form of consumer protection? A hallmark is a stamp placed upon metals that are certified to be of a certain quality. Hallmarking in Britain can be traced back to 1300 when King Edward I passed laws that required all items sold as silver to meet a standard known as “Sterling Silver”. Guardians of the trade would independently certify that the silver met this standard and would stamp it with a special mark of a leopard’s head. But what is “Sterling Silver” and why is hallmarking still important?

The 925 Mark
Sterling Silver today is marked 925. This means it is certified to be 92.5% silver. The other 7.5% can be other metals; some jewellers for instance like to add a little rhodium as it makes the silver shinier than it would be otherwise. In the past, unscrupulous merchants cut their silver with cheaper metals like tin or iron and gold would also get mixed with brass. The result would be metals that weren’t worth what the customer was paying for them and in modern day times there have been scares over cheap jewellery. There are laws in the EU that prevent the use of metals like Nickel which are well known to cause irritation to the skin and allergies, but  in the USA there have been some big cases. In 2010 for instance, Wal-mart withdrew celebrity teenage Miley Cyrus jewellery after it was found to contain toxic cadmium. Claire’s Accessories also took action to withdraw lines that year. In both cases, the jewellery did not have a hallmark. To carry a hallmark, the jewellery would have needed to have been certified by an Assay Office who’s job is to ensure that consumers are protected.

What Might Happen?
The UK Government has recently put forward a proposal asking whether the public think that hallmarking regulations should be maintained in Britain. We strongly believe they should be for several reasons:

1. Hallmarking is independent – an Assay Office is an expert who works to protect you against substandard goods, regardless of what retailers or manufacturers say
2. Hallmarking makes prices fair – when you pay for 925 Sterling Silver (or other jewellery hallmarks like 990 Gold or 950 Platinum) you can be confident that that is what you are getting with no hidden nasties
3. Hallmarked goods hold their value – gold and silver prices have risen dramatically in recent years and a hallmark means your jewellery will benefit from that

Hallmarking creates trust. It keeps the industry safe from cheap and potentially dangerous fakes. Steve Bennett, CEO of GemsTV had this to say:

As Steve rightly says, these regulations are here in the interests of consumers. Please add your opinion to whether you want to keep them on the Government’s Red Tape Challenge website.