London Assay Office: What is a Hallmark?

A hallmark is a set of component marks applied to an article by an Assay Office. A hallmark provides an independent guarantee of precious metal purity.

Additionally, it offers valuable customer and consumer quality assurance. It is also a legal requirement when selling precious metal items over a certain weight. A hallmark is made of individual marks. Watch this video to discover each component mark:

London Assay Office: What is a Hallmark?

The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office is where hallmarking began, and we have been testing and hallmarking precious metals for over 700 years. At the Goldsmiths' Company Assay Office we provide both traditional handmarking and the latest laser marking techniques across three key London locations with a choice of three priority services including one hour, same day and early hall. We process 3 million articles a year, in 100,000 packets, and are proud to apply the leopard's head townmark of London to each and every one.