Hallmarking - adding sponsor's mark

[corryvreckan]

Does anyone know if I can get my sponsor's mark added to a wedding ring blank already hallmarked from cooksons? No reply from the assay office yet and time is ticking!
thanks
Corry

[Emerald]

If you have the sponsors mark you can do it yourself

[corryvreckan]

it's currently in hall, can you just ask to 'borrow' them and then send them back? I hadn't thought of that. I'd also be a bit concerned about having something appropriate to hold it while I punch. Any ideas on that?
many thanks

[corryvreckan]

Assay Office London suggested flooding the existing mark and then sending to them, which is going to be easier for me, so that's another option if anyone else has this problem.
thanks!

[Emerald]

Assay Office London suggested flooding the existing mark and then sending to them, which is going to be easier for me, so that's another option if anyone else has this problem.
thanks!

I bought my blanks then just added my mark to it ,not sure whey you need it re hallmarked if they are already hall marked no need for extra expense. The mark belongs to you so you can ask for it back i always sent mine in with items to be hallmarked and always asked for it back so if i had items that dident need hallmarking i could always add my mark :)

[geti-titanium]

Assay Office London suggested flooding the existing mark and then sending to them,

That's strange, I thought it was illegal to tamper with a hallmark - can anybody clarify?

[agent_44]

That's strange, I thought it was illegal to tamper with a hallmark - can anybody clarify?

Isn't the makers mark different/supplimentary to the hallmark? Which would mean you woudln't be tampering with the actual hallmark.

[blackbear]

Hello All,
I have been reading these posts and I would like to know what a "Sponsers mark" is . I have my own makers mark and as I understand it when you have completed the piece you stamp it and send it to the assay office or you send your piece to the Assay office and when it has passed the test they will stamp it with your mark if held by them and then stamp the appropriate marks of the Assay Office you sent it to .

Question : Are you saying that people who are not the makers of the piece and that someone else "The Sponser" has made it and you are allowed to put your makers mark on it and have it Assayed as such and stamped.
Can some one kindly explain. Thank you Regards Blackbear.

Background Information : I am a hobbiest and the maker of Scottish Dirks etc and all my silver mountings are made from sheet and on completion submitted to the Assay Office in London. B

[snow_imp]

Hm, I thought the sponsors mark and makers mark were the same thing!

Having left my paperwork in the house, I can't even check the wording on the relevant form.

[ben b]

The sponsors mark, or 'makers' mark ARE the same thing. It is called a 'sponsors mark' and there is actually no such thing as a makers mark, in terms of the assay offices paperwork. Books on old silver etc will however, refer to them as makers marks, but they are actually sponsors marks.

The 'sponsor' is ANY person, whom has an 'account' with the assay office, and has registered their details with them, and had a unique mark registered with them to identify themslves.

It may freely be applied to anyones work, not just work you have made yourself, but items bought in which are not marked, and, by itself, it is not a legal hallmark, so may be applied to jewellery already containing a sponsors mark and full hallmark, 'postumously' buy the seller, there would be no law against this, but you would have to do it yourself, as the assay office probably wont put two on themselves and wont erase the first one, as per previous post, due to thier production line work practices. But they do have the legal authority to erase a sponsors mark, and re mark an item, in fact this is the supposedly prefferential and correct way to do this.

[mochiandmocha]

Sorry for the following post if not in the right place, but we're REALLY beginning so any info would help on that topic:

Are sponsor's marks compulsory? What exactly do you need to do with your piece of jewellery to be "legal"? How about enamelled pieces, I guess you just send the metal work and enamel it afterwards...? I'm a bit lost... help...?[-o<

Woups! looks like I was too panicked to read all the thread, but now I've found them ! Thanks everyone!!

Yet, I'm not 100% sure if I can use a sponso'r mark myself?...

[Hart-Star]

The best place for getting the full advice for you is the Edinburgh Assay office website - they cover most things that you need to know:

The basic issues as I understand it are :

The type of precious metal(s)
The weight of the assembled piece
Whether you are flogging the stuff in the UK

The oddity is that basically you only need the Sponsor's mark + Fineness + Assay Office stamps, and that the date stamp letter is optional.