Wow, So stuff made in the far east can be assayed there with UK hallmarks?

[SteveLAO]

pearlescence, yes you're right, and we do nickel testing not just for jewellery that needs to be hallmarked. We are also now offering testing for lead and cadmium after the recent legislation concerning these metals as well.

[pearlescence]

New rules for lead and cadmium?????

[SteveLAO]

Yes, there is a new European wide requirement for the content of lead and cadmium in jewellery, both metals of course being poisonous.
Lead and Cadmium in jewellery items is an increasing concern due to the harmful effects that these toxic elements can have. In the EU, Cadmium is already restricted by the REACH regulations and Lead will be included from October 2013.

Cadmium and Cadmium Oxide are very toxic and known carcinogens. The fact that Cadmium is used in the jewellery industry as an alloying constituent and in solders means it poses a significant health risk. Therefore, from December 2011, EU REACH Directive 494/2011 came in to effect to restrict Cadmium content in jewellery to 0.01% by weight of metal. This applies to all component parts of precious metal jewellery, fashion jewellery and non-metallic materials. In addition, Cadmium in paints is restricted to 0.1% by weight. The exceptions are jewellery items that are proven to be >50 years old or placed on the market before January 2012.

Lead and its compounds are also toxic at low levels of exposure, so Lead will therefore be subject to EU REACH Directive 836/2012 from October 2013. Lead and its compounds must not be present in jewellery articles in quantities >0.05% by weight. Non-metallic component parts are also included but crystal glass, precious and semi-precious stones are not unless they are treated with Lead compounds.

As the requirements of the REACH Directive only permit very low levels of Lead and Cadmium, Assay Office London can carry out the test for both elements simultaneously using the ICP-OES technique ( Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy ) to provide an accurate content result.

[Anna Wales]

Can you give us some more details about the tests, Steve. Costs etc. All my jewellery is made using wire/sheet/findings/solder from Cooksons. I hope I'm right in assuming that they're within the EU rules. I'll also check with my casting firm.

[Tabby66]

It is a mark of assay, and anything made abroad can be presented to an assay office for hallmarking in the UK. My concern (and from the impact assessment, the assay offices were also concerned about this) is that standards might not be so rigorous outside of the UK. I'm also concerned that it will result in job losses.

I think lots of people have little interest in the hallmarking of jewellery. I do it on my lighter-weight repro pieces just to ensure they aren't passed off as antique. For the same reason I won't buy antique stuff myself unless it has been hallmarked. Maybe there needs to be more public education?

The rationale for opening in the far east is that it allows the UK to compete with other EU states who operate in the far east. There must be a shedload of EU/convention stuff assayed at their far east offices and being imported into the UK to make it worthwhile doing. I really hope it's not just being done because it's simply cheaper for the assay offices.

I guess my point was that it is fine (if you are going to compete as you say on a level playing field), but why give it a Birmingham hallmark,.......why not a British standard hallmark but with a new symbol for China.....ie...not the anchor.............that belongs to Birmingham and if it can be hallmarked elsewhere with the anchor, then surely it no longer represents a Birmingham hallmark?!

Am I being precious??!!

[Dennis]

As I see it, the hallmark gives a degree of consumer protection in that it certifies an alloy from which the jewellery is made is what the seller claims it to be:18ct gold, 925 silver, or whatever. It does not certify provenance, or quality of workmanship.

So if the Birmingham assay office is willing to stake its reputation in hallmarking the work, whats wrong with that, folks?

[pearlescence]

Exactlyl so. The items do not have to come from Birmingham or been made in Birmingham, but have to have satisfied the assay conducted by the Brum Assay Office which them puts on its mark. Brum office has simply been a bit entrepreneurial. Wonder when one will set up in the USA? They are in dire need of decent consumer protection - nickel still legal!

Anne Wales - since the various metal content rules are legal requirements it is extremely unlikely that Cookson's will risk prosecution and ignomy by selling precious metals which would fail assay.

[Patstone]

My only concern with this is that both the labour rate and the metals are cheaper in china, and so are the stones (I know a chinese girl student studying at Exeter University, and we have had this discussion) they will be able to import silver jewellery into England a lot cheaper than we can buy the metal let alone add labour etc. Where does that leave people that have to make a living from making jewellery in this country. Why would anyone want to buy a silver or gold ring (hallmarked, so you know it is real) imported into England for £5 when you can pay £150 for the same thing made in this country!!!!! Sarcasm is bad, but you get my jist.

[medusa]

It is recent legislation that allows assay offices to mark in overseas offsites. The offices should be under the control of whichever assay office set it up, and there are different assay office marks for items marked overseas so that you can tell the difference. For example, at London, items marked in the UK regardless of where they were made, has the leopard's head town mark for London. If we were to set up an overseas office, then the leopard's head mark will be replaced by a portcullis mark to indicate overseas marked items under the control of the London office.
I must stress that UK assay offices are not just going to hand out licences to hallmark to locals in whatever country the offsite will be set up. These offiste offices must be rigorously controlled and monitored by the hosting office to ensure exactly the same quality of testing and marking.
Our heathrow office meets items coming in from abroad and marks them at the airport, so we have no immediate plans to go offshore, but this came about as the Dutch assay office, whose marks we recognise in the UK, are able to set up anywhere in the world, and it was felt that this was unfair as up until this recent law change, UK offices were not allowed to compete by marking offshore too, and I understand one or two big accounts in the UK were lost to the Dutch as a result.
Naturally UK offices are concerned that if lots of items do get marked at source this will impact on jobs in the UK, but on the other hand if we aren't given the opportunity then forign offices whose marks are recognised in the UK will be doing this anyway.
I've asked my boss if I can do a fact finding mission for a possible assay office in Hawaii, the Seychelles, Barbados and Fiji, but I've not heard anything back so far...funny eh??

Hi Steve,
It's reassuring to know that consumers will be able to tell the difference between overseas marked items and home marked ones. It's also possible that during a long conversation I've conflated BAO with assay offices generally particularly as a result of the discussion about resulting job losses at BAO. I'll check with them when I ring up next week. If I have done that, apologies for causing a panic!

I'm still not entirely convinced about the quality control aspect. If they can't maintain enough control over quality to not poison their own babies, I'm not hopeful about something rather less life-threatening like assay standards.

If assaying is carried out abroad make it more cost effective, couldn't the UK assay offices just reduce the charges for high volume producers? It's only being hallmarked by Dutch offices abroad so it can be sold in the EU, and so coming to europe anyway. That way jobs and offices could be saved.

I guess my point was that it is fine (if you are going to compete as you say on a level playing field), but why give it a Birmingham hallmark,.......why not a British standard hallmark but with a new symbol for China.....ie...not the anchor.............that belongs to Birmingham and if it can be hallmarked elsewhere with the anchor, then surely it no longer represents a Birmingham hallmark?!

Am I being precious??!!

Steve said that it would be a different mark, but yeah, that was my concern when I first heard it.

My only concern with this is that both the labour rate and the metals are cheaper in china, and so are the stones (I know a chinese girl student studying at Exeter University, and we have had this discussion) they will be able to import silver jewellery into England a lot cheaper than we can buy the metal let alone add labour etc. Where does that leave people that have to make a living from making jewellery in this country. Why would anyone want to buy a silver or gold ring (hallmarked, so you know it is real) imported into England for £5 when you can pay £150 for the same thing made in this country!!!!! Sarcasm is bad, but you get my jist.

I would think that the only stuff that would be sent for hallmarking would be over-weight stuff and high value artisan-made items? Thinking about it though, I know someone who got a whole load of stuff made cheaply in Thailand all stamped 'sterling', and trading standards made them get it assayed (using a laser because it had been resin enamelled) even though it was underweight. are the rules different for stuff made of silver made abroad that is under 7.7 grams?

[medusa]

trialuser & medusa.....interesting your mini survey - we did a bigger version of the same survey and found quite the reverse, that a hallmarked item was indeed seen to be more valuable than an unhallmarked one - especially as the unhallmarked one can only be sold as "white coloured metal" in order to comply with the hallmarking act. (subject to weight etc of course!)
You're right though that it is an uphill struggle to educate the "public" concerning hallmarking but we do have regular seminars in London to tell people all about it, and also impress on retailers that they MUST by law have their dealer's notice clearly on view. We also encourage retailers to tell their customers about the hallmark and what it means, and of course the fact that your sponsor mark is stamped on the item as a bit of everlasting advertising for your company!!
It is, after all, the oldest form of independent consumer protection in the UK

well most of the people who buy from me are outside the EU and they really don't care and often get impatient when I tell them they need to wait a week longer so I can get the thing hallmarked.

I love my hallmark and as I've said before, I love it so much I got it tattooed on myself.