Hallmarking again

[Patstone]

This question is for Dave Merry LAO.
I was talking to a lady visiting a craft fair that I had a stall, and the discussion came up about hallmarking, as she noticed that several pairs of earrings hadn't been hallmarked. I told her that if they were under 7.78 grms they didnt have to be and she said with the stones in they would be over the limit. Presumably that weight is for the two earrings, not each and surely if they are to be hallmarked you would send them up to the assay office without the stones in as some of my pendants in particular have quite chunky stones, I don't do delicate, so quite a lot would be needed to be done.

[Dennis]

While Pat is waiting for the Real McCoy, I'll hazard my own answer.

1 The weight of the stones does not come into it; only the weight of the metal.
2 As the earring are hallmarked individually, then their separate weights will be what counts. Dennis.

[CJ57]

I'm with Dennis as I haven't seen anyone from the LAO for months
It's the weight of the metal before setting and each earring is a separate entity and is counted as 2 when being sent for Hallmarking therefore each can have its own weight up to 7.78gms.

[LydiaNiz]

Thirded! The lady was wrong.

[Dennis]

We used to play a game with the children, which started; 'I saw a dead frog in the road'. Then they had to say in turn: 'I one it', 'I two' it, etc. Then when they got to eight, they shrieked with hysterical laughter. Dennis.