Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 33

Thread: Hallmarks...required if item isn't "sold"?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Bournemouth, United Kingdom
    Posts
    11

    Default Hallmarks...required if item isn't "sold"?

    Hello all

    I'm a hobbyist silversmith, only making items that fall within the exemption weights for sale.

    However, for work, I am making a silver "trophy" which is going to be a little heavier than the exemption weight.

    My question is, does the item still need hallmarking if it technically isn't being sold? It's a prize, so in theory the winner has paid for it through hard work, but no cash is exchanging hands.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Central London
    Posts
    8,845

    Default

    Hi Chris,
    I would say that it is not obligatory to hallmark this trophy, but the hallmark would greatly enhance its perceived value. So much so, that without it the recipient might well wonder whether he has been given a cheapo plated job. Dennis.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    1,086

    Default

    You can always ask someone with a registration to put it through for you?
    Ah, if only Steve were here...I seem to remember that items can be assayed and marked by the assay office itself, no sponsor mark
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Rural Somerset, between Yeovil and Shepton Mallet
    Posts
    201

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by pearlescence View Post
    You can always ask someone with a registration to put it through for you?
    Ah, if only Steve were here...I seem to remember that items can be assayed and marked by the assay office itself, no sponsor mark
    I am fairly sure that a registered sponsor cannot put someone else's work through as their own - nothing to prevent you physically doing this but I think it is actually illegal. There is a thread somewhere in this forum about it.
    Barry the Flying Silversmith👍

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    England
    Posts
    1,902

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BarryM View Post
    I am fairly sure that a registered sponsor cannot put someone else's work through as their own - nothing to prevent you physically doing this but I think it is actually illegal. There is a thread somewhere in this forum about it.
    I think you are wrong Barry, in all of my career as a goldsmith, with my own registered hallmark, almost 98% of my work over my career has had other's hallmarks on it. When you work within the trade and the likes of Asprey, Garrard, Cartier and Kutchinsky buy your work for resale, they expect to have their own company hallmark on the finished piece and not the mark of the craftsman who made the piece. The hallmark guarantees the quality of the metals but not the manufacturer. Not much of what the main names sell was actually made by their own craftsmen. When I watch the antiques programs on TV, I often think it would be nice if the actual makers ever got credit from the experts. This was one reason why I had a book of my work printed in 2009 so that some may know of my work in the future.

    James
    James Miller FIPG.
    Last edited by Goldsmith; 17-10-2015 at 10:38 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Rural Somerset, between Yeovil and Shepton Mallet
    Posts
    201

    Default

    James, You certainly know a lot more about this than I do and I am sure that the examples you mentioned are correct. I just seem to remember that places like Cooksons and others used to offer a hallmarking service where you could send your work to them and they would have it hallmarked under their sponsor mark and then return them to you (at a charge of course). This was stopped as (I thought) it broke the hallmarking regulations? Do you know the background to this?
    Barry the Flying Silversmith👍

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    England
    Posts
    1,902

    Default

    I don't know about the Cooksons offering that service, but I do know that if you just send items to the London Assay office they will assay and hallmark it with the LAO mark. I just know that loads of my pieces will go down in history as being made by Asprey as it has their hallmarks on it as they were commissioned or bought by them and sold in their shops around the world.

    I made this piece back in 1981.
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	018d- Asprey Apple suprise 1981.jpg 
Views:	28 
Size:	91.4 KB 
ID:	8243

    James

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    43

    Default

    I'm a student at Sheffield College (pretty much next door to the assay office) and we can send work in through the college to be assayed and marked without needing our own sponsor mark.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    3,392

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jayneharrison View Post
    I'm a student at Sheffield College (pretty much next door to the assay office) and we can send work in through the college to be assayed and marked without needing our own sponsor mark.
    When I was at Edinburgh College of Art all the pieces I made during that time were hallmarked with the ECA mark too
    Last edited by CJ57; 17-10-2015 at 09:10 PM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    127

    Default

    I know of people who have, allegedly, sent items to an assay office recently to be marked when they don't have their own mark. Not sure what law it would break, anyway.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •