Hallmarking
Precious Metals & Hallmarking
Precious metals such as gold, platinum, palladium and silver are carefully alloyed with other metals to improve their strength, durability, colour and wearability. Beautiful on the outside, complex on the inside. You simply cannot determine a precious metal's purity by sight or touch. That's where UK hallmarking law comes in, providing independent verification of the precious metal content of qualifying jewellery.
Autumn and May is registered with the Goldsmiths' Company Assay Office in London.
What Is a Hallmark?
A hallmark is an official mark applied following independent testing by an Assay Office, confirming that an article meets the required standard of precious metal fineness.
Hallmarking has been protecting consumers in the UK for over 700 years and remains an important system of independent verification and consumer protection. Under the Hallmarking Act 1973, articles described as precious metal must carry a legally recognised hallmark at the point of sale where they exceed the applicable statutory exemption weight:
- Silver: over 7.78 grams
- Gold: over 1 gram
- Palladium: over 1 gram
- Platinum: over 0.5 grams
Articles at or below these exemption weights are not required to carry a hallmark, but they must still be accurately described.
Our Promise to You
We take the authenticity, quality and accurate description of every piece of jewellery we offer seriously. We work closely with our designers to help ensure that applicable precious metal jewellery is hallmarked, accurately described and compliant with UK regulations. For pieces that fall within the statutory exemption weights and therefore do not require hallmarking, we require our designers and suppliers to ensure that their products meet the precious metal fineness standards under which they are described.
When you shop with us, you're not just choosing beautiful jewellery. You're choosing jewellery you can trust.
