A foreigner's questions on Hall Marking

[enigma]

Hans,
So does adding an extra £30 or so make any difference to the cost of a £2000 item?

[SteveLAO]

Remember it's a law of description, so you would still be committing an offence if you're describing it as being made of precious metal on your website, and are selling it as such in the UK without a hallmark. The hallmark is an indication of the precious metal, so the stamp "metal" indicates that there is also non precious metal in the item.
"Street cred" is a subjective term..........British hallmarks have been around for 700 years.....

That's amazing.
I have never actually realized what this hallmarking business is.
I have researched a bit more and as I see it, it is basically a method to keep some jobsworth with salary while he ensures that your 9 kt gold is pure.( the irony is strong in this one)
I imagine then that if one makes multi metal jewellery with a reasonable amount of street cred ( as in stamped METAL doesn't cut it) and one were to want to sell it in the UK, (which I want to do) it would be better to stamp it simply "meevis.com" and be done with it?
That way the client could simply go to my web site and read all the materials the object is made from.
Basically, is one allowed to sell unstamped articles that are made from precious metals?

[medusa]

My point is this.
There is no benefit for me to have my work assayed, because I have always used gold and silver for the colour, not the value.
And if one takes the Fish Pond pendant as an example, there are maybe 2 grams of 18kt gold and forty grams of silver in there. Less than a hundred Euro's.
My customer pays EU2000 for it. Does she think I will cheat her out of 100EU?
Never even crosses her mind.
She likes it for what she sees, not because she feels protected by the government.

I very much doubt that the fact that a piece is hall marked would drive a sale.
Jewellery generally sells on emotion, not because a 5 gram 9ct ring is certified.

And anyway, if one speaks of high end jewellery, the gemstones and labor are by far the highest factor in the cost of the piece.
And the gemstones are far more likely to be presented in a deceptive manner than a bit of gold.

I agree that jewellery sells on emotion and design. But would your customer pay EU2000 for your fishpond pendant if you had made it out of nickel silver and gold-plated brass? I suspect not despite the actual main cost of production being your labour.

You have the reputation that instils trust in your customers and you are not the only one. My sister in law is a regular customer of a local jeweller here who makes stuff for her in 22ct gold which is never hallmarked. It doesn't bother her, but it would certain ally bother me. I also suspect that reputation and name is what allows companies like Tiffany to flog stuff for £3k+ which has so little precious metal in it it can't be hallmarked at all.

The real point is, is that there are many many people who routinely misrepresent the materials they use (and to my mind Rubedo is a complete and utter con) and hallmarking provides some guarantee that a metal is what they say it is. It's not difficult to get registered, it's not that expensive even as a one-off for a high value item and hallmarks are just, well cool things in and of themselves, from the design down to the history.

[Aurarius]

Rubedo is a complete and utter con)

It's 7.5 carat rose gold isn't it? The Latin name and all the hype about it being a new metal (or even a new alloy) do nothing to elevate its status. Clearly, though, a large number of consumers will get suckered in and open their wallets, otherwise Tiffany wouldn't have gone to all the trouble marketing it in the first place.

[ps_bond]

Is it even that high? I did look it up a while back, can't remember now. But it has the "Tiffany hallmark" on it - which as we know is no hallmark at all.

[Aurarius]

Is it even that high? I did look it up a while back, can't remember now.

I've not searched extensively, but the figure of 31% gold has cropped up more than once. It would be great if one of our Assay offices could get hold of a piece and give us their verdict.

[medusa]

It's 7.5 carat rose gold isn't it? The Latin name and all the hype about it being a new metal (or even a new alloy) do nothing to elevate its status. Clearly, though, a large number of consumers will get suckered in and open their wallets, otherwise Tiffany wouldn't have gone to all the trouble marketing it in the first place.

I have a silver Tiffany cuff that is very precious to me, so I do have a bit of a fondness for the brand, but the hype is actually nauseating.

Is it even that high? I did look it up a while back, can't remember now. But it has the "Tiffany hallmark" on it - which as we know is no hallmark at all.

yeah, pretty sure it's 7.5ct. Some guys did a spectrowhatduyoucallit. 55% copper, 31% gold, some zinc and silver. The bullshi… I mean promotional blurb describes it as a new metal (which makes you wonder how much the advertising dept actually know about their product) and then bangs on and on and on about how Tiffany were the first US company to use the UK silver standard and are so innovative in their use of gold silver and platinum and their alloys and then says Rubido is in the same tradition. The clear inference is that this alloy has equal amounts of precious metal in the alloy to the point it could be considered a precious alloy when actually you probably get more gold on decent gold fill wire.

[solitarysmagick]

I personally wouldn't buy anything described as being made from gold etc that wasn't hallmarked.. it just begs the question "why is it not marked?" As others have said, it is not hard to register and as a maker I can't understand why anyone would go to the trouble of making a piece using precious metals and then not have it hallmarked.. Who here didn't get the feeling of excitement and the "i made that" thought when your first items come back with your very own, unique makers mark on it? In a hundred years time my great grandkids etc could still tell i made a piece and the year it was made in.. will a website address still be around in a hundred years?

Rachael x

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[enigma]

Yes its definitely a nice feeling to see your own stamp on your jewellery, I love mine