London Assay Office issues

[CJ57]

LASER making is is a bit of a mystery as unless it is a really deep burn then it will not last very long, I have seen some LASER marked items from the UK and the mark has just about disappeared, I thought it was supposed to be permanent

It actually appears to be quite resilient Bob if it’s not in an area of wear and I use it a lot. Particularly useful if you do a lot of domes or hollow pieces and they have even been known to fit one in an inside edge of a piece but then I make bespoke and my work isn’t that traditional.

[Misskitty]

Thanks for posting the information, it is a little worrying. I registered with London and was getting a pack ready to send for hallmarking. I didn’t realise they had such a bad name. I can’t afford to have work damaged so looks like I will also be paying a second registration fee to transfer to Edinburgh.

No worries. They are a company who like someone else stated are courteous to get your money but you’ll be on the sharp end if you raise any issues. I’ve been told I’ll be getting a call back for over a week and have received nothing, I’ve chased this up twice by email and received no response. Had to ring up again. £250 for nothing. They should be ashamed of the way they cherry pick how the treat people. I appreciate the current climate, but in all honestly feel like I’ve been treated like trash and they have offered no resolution this this

Re: laser it looks ok but not worth the money to be honest. I personally didn’t really like the effect. I thought the punch was supposed to be the permenant one but have now been told my makers mark is as useless as laser. Feels like a scam. So be aware of this if you’ve chosen a smaller punch. x

[Petal]

Do you have any pictures of how they have stamped your pieces Misskitty?

I find that when someone raises a very legitimate complaint on here, as a last resort, that once they can see the evidence for themselves, most places are usually swift to correct the problem.

BTW, before I sent my first items to be hallmarked, I photographed all of them, with the sharpie mark where I wanted to have the hallmark stamped, so I could compare with what was received back.

[china]

Interesting Caroline I enlarged a Gold eternity ring that carried the London Hallmark and I was quite surprised the mark had virtually disappeared the ring is only 6 months old, it is completely gone now because who ever did the the marking placed it at the bottom of the shank.

[Misskitty]

Hi Jules, here’s the silver ring. The initials LA completely disappeared into a blob with a very gentle polish. Was embarrassed to give it to a customer but he needed it for his wife that weekend.

[CJ57]

Re: laser it looks ok but not worth the money to be honest. I personally didn’t really like the effect. I thought the punch was supposed to be the permenant one but have now been told my makers mark is as useless as laser. Feels like a scam. So be aware of this if you’ve chosen a smaller punch. x

Sometimes laser is the only mark possible if you make bespoke and having that option has been a godsend in many cases.
I’ve been registered since 1979 and I can honestly say I’ve never lost a mark either punch or laser to polishing and have only ever had a mark there was a bit of movement on and that was probably my makers mark and not having the right stake for the job or I did it on my own when it was maybe a 2 handed hold which is why I find laser marking so useful now

[CJ57]

I rarely make rings but wouldn’t laser mark them to be honest as there is definitely too much friction. If I did I’d ask for a deeper mark. It’s fine for the backs of pendants and even cuffs which I tend to put on an outer edge. I remember one piece where I had no idea where a mark could be put and they managed to add it to an inner edge, I was really impressed!

[Petal]

I've only had one problem Caroline, with them stamping a mark that wasn't in the middle of a clasp, so I sent it back, they repolished it and it returned with the mark in the middle.

I can't really see the hallmark Misskitty, so can't comment on it, as its too tiny for me to see the detail.

[CJ57]

I've only had one problem Caroline, with them stamping a mark that wasn't in the middle of a clasp, so I sent it back, they repolished it and it returned with the mark in the middle.

I can't really see the hallmark Misskitty, so can't comment on it, as its too tiny for me to see the detail.

Edin once marked the front of one earring and the back of the other! They were foldform and it seemed quite obvious to me but obviously not to them But the wires were formed in place. It wasn’t worth bothering about and I think I just turned it round because they were underweight anyway and one of the pair was marked.
I’ve never known a customer look at the hallmarks and although they are really important to me as a mark of quality it doesn’t seem that important to them even though they may be spending a lot of money. If I use it as part of my sales talk then they may be interested otherwise it seems to go over the top of their heads because they don’t know what they are supposed to look like! Basically we are working to the regs and to many customers they are ignorant of the law anyway especially if they’ve bought cheap imports at a fair or in a shop

[Petal]

Edin once marked the front of one earring and the back of the other! They were foldform and it seemed quite obvious to me but obviously not to them But the wires were formed in place. It wasn’t worth bothering about and I think I just turned it round because they were underweight anyway and one of the pair was marked.
I’ve never known a customer look at the hallmarks and although they are really important to me as a mark of quality it doesn’t seem that important to them even though they may be spending a lot of money. If I use it as part of my sales talk then they may be interested otherwise it seems to go over the top of their heads because they don’t know what they are supposed to look like! Basically we are working to the regs and to many customers they are ignorant of the law anyway especially if they’ve bought cheap imports at a fair or in a shop

You are so right Caroline and I've had that discussion with many people who came into our shop. They had no idea about the hallmarking regs and what should happen and quite often doesn't. Many of them had never seen a hallmark before, or knew what one looked like. (Its one of the things I'm trying to show, now that I'm in the middle of photographing our stuff, before we go online).

Having said all that, I think it is something which will become much more important in future, for obvious reasons. Its all about educating them and asking them where they buy and if they buy elsewhere do they buy from someone who displays a dealers notice, or not.