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In March 2015 I registered my Black Cat Silver hallmarking makers stamp at the Birmingham Assay Office.
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Most pieces of my Silver jewellery will be stamped with the Birmingham Assay Office mark (an anchor), 925 (purity of the precious metal), and finally the Black Cat Silver stamp, which is 2 Crescent moons (symbolising empowerment, to grow & thrive) and the initials BCS.
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Date letter marks are optional, but if used show the year of production.
Only Silver over 7.78grams requires hallmarking, so pieces not requiring hallmarking will still bear my sponsors mark, apart from some of my smaller earrings.
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More about Hallmarking.....
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Within the UK, Hallmarking is a legal requirement for items being sold as Gold, Silver, Platinum or Palladium, to ensure it meets the legal standard.
All precious metals used in jewellery are used as an alloy, what this means is they are all mixed with other elements such as copper, as they would otherwise be too soft. This aids aspects such as durability and hardness.
The legal standard sets the limit of this. So for example Sterling Silver must when tested conform to being 92.5% pure silver, the remainder being copper. Hence the 925 stamp seen on Sterling Silver.
Fine silver is 99.9% silver, hence its softness and therefore use in smaller or more delicate items of jewellery, and is stamped 999.
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There are three required elements of a hallmark:
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1) The Sponsors Mark - this is a unique mark of a company or person
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2) The Standard Mark - this represents the fineness of the metal, I.e it’s purity
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3) The Assay Office Mark - where it was hallmarked.
