Which assay office

[pearlescence]

You will soon be making your mark

I don't know about everyone else but I still get a massive sense of pride in my own work and history when I look at my mark on a piece. No matter what or who, no-one else has ever or will ever have that mark.

[SteveLAO]

Looking forward to welcoming you and seeing your product.

[Oberon]

Steve,

can I butt in and ask a little question...? I have just made my first gold pieces and need to have them hallmarked (a lovely lady called Lyn was super helpful last week but one question got missed.) It was regarding paying for my mark etc. Do I have to pay twice for a gold and then a silver mark? Just now I am obsessive about keeping silver under weight but if I have my mark I will be less so. That said I have v little spare cash so can barely afford to pay for the gold mark for the half dozen pieces I need to have done. Two for a customer and then 4 test pieces (in case I turned out to not be able to teach myself (with a lot of help here) to work with gold before I annihilated a customers piece.).

So basically what is the best and most cost effective option for me...

Thank you so much in advance...

Sarah B-H

[pearlescence]

I assume you mean paying for the actual stamp, the piece of metal which gets hit with a hammer (!)
You don't have the gold or silver marks, the assay office has them.That's their department.
You pay for your mark - the stamp with your initials - only. (That does mean you can put your mark onto under weight silver items so everyone knows it is your work, just not what metal it officially is.)

[Patstone]

That's worth knowing. I thought the assay office had to do all of it.

[Oberon]

Yes I do I know that the assay office keep the mark hence having to send the pieces away to be tested and stamped with the hallmark and yes I was talking about the stamp as in the 'mark maker'. All I was asking Steve from the assay office was if I needed two separate ones for gold & silver but by the sound of it I don't. So thank you for answering the question... And like Pat I didn't realise you could actually have a stamp yourself to mark under weight bits with your mark. Thank you. Sarah


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ps_bond]

The same stamp of mine has been used on gold, silver and platinum quite happily (and London look after it).

[SteveLAO]

Yes, when you register you commission and pay for your sponsor's mark punch. That's the only punch you pay for and it's your property. All the other punches are the property of the assay office and you just pay to have the mark applied to your items. The sponsor's mark is the ONLY part of the hallmark that you can apply yourself if you want to, and you can also mark non precious items with it and use it as your "trade mark" if you wish, so you can keep your punch at home if you like.
If you are going to mark your own sponsor's mark, this MUST be done BEFORE you send in your items to have the rest of the hallmark applied. It forms part of the complete hallmark and we cannot release your goods with an incomplete hallmark applied to it.
I have to say though that most people leave it to us to apply the mark and leave their sponsor's punch with us, and we actually prefer that you do so. In order to achieve a good looking mark, not only does each mark have to be equi-spaced and parallel, but they should also be the same depth, which is so much easier to achieve if you mark all the marks at the same time. Trying to gauge the depth from someone else's mark is really tricky!

[Oberon]

No I am more than happy to leave it to you!! I don't want that kind of responsibility . Just v pleased to know I only need to pay for the one as I can barely afford that let alone two... I will get onto that today I think. That said how many pieces can I have done without my own mark just in case the customer is desperate to have it done ASAP? Thank you so much, I have to concur that so far the London assay office has been so helpful. All a bit daunting for us diddly companies, want to get it right. Sarah


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SteveLAO]

I take it you're just registering or are about to? The punch takes around two weeks or so to make, but in that time the software for laser marking will already be active, so you can have items laser marked until the punch has been finished. We don't charge you any extra for the software creation for laser marking, and that is done as standard on registration.

We use our "own mark" - LAO for London assay office - for emergency use only, or if a member of the public comes in with an odd bit of jewellery they picked up abroad and want marked. We wouldn't expect them to register and have their own mark in this case. The whole point of the sponsor mark though is traceability so it's always best to have your own mark on your own pieces if you possibly can.