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Thread: UK Hallmarks being struck in India?

  1. #1
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    Sep 2016
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    Default UK Hallmarks being struck in India?

    Anyone got any views on this? Importing our own hallmarks from an assay office in India, or allowing Indian factories to make things and give them UK hallmarks in Mumbai which are then sold in other countries as though assayed in the UK sounds a bit bizarre. Is it still a UK hallmark and what does that mean for the uniqueness and special nature of our 700 years of traditional UK marks?

    http://www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk/1775...e-uk-hallmarks

    https://www.antiquestradegazette.com...e-hallmarking/

    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/in...lery-nxgkcdl7p

    The petition is here if anyone is interested:

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/162103

  2. #2
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    Aug 2010
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    England
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    Hello FailedAssay, first yes I have already signed the petition and second welcome to the forum,by the way it's good for new members to say Hello and introduce yourself to the rest of us.

    James

  3. #3
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    signed the petition

  4. #4
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    I hadn't heard about this, I don't really read any 'jewellery press' I'm not sure I knew there was any, and now feel like a bit of a troglodite missing out on a world of news....

    It is kind of interesting, I suppose the point of a hallmark is to assure the quality, not where the item was made, but for a long time those two things will have correlated, and even for imports gives the reassurance of something being stamped on british soil. I suppose the idea is that these overseas assay houses are like little embassy's of british hallmarking further afield - and if they actually were like embassy's, under british law, it'd be kinda different.

    Well it seems sad to me that a Birmingham anchor can get stamped in Mumbai (and not in the least because of the wealth of Mumbai related stamp options - a nice elephant or tiger perhaps), so i'll be signing it.

    Faith

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
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    Hi James

    Found this forum a couple of years ago and dip into it regularly but never registered to post things. I've been in the trade for over 20 years and work for a silverware and jewellery retailer (are we allowed to use company names?). We contract out a lot of production to Birmingham workshops so sort of got swept up in the kerfuffle when the Mumbai news came out. We use all 4 assay offices and because we try to do as much of our production in the UK as possible, have a certain sympathy towards the idea that British Hallmarks should be British and struck here. Anyhow, I offered to help spread the word and looked to see if anyone had posted about it on here. Be interesting to see what happens, not sure many people on the manufacturing side are too happy and I dare say the public won't like the idea much, but a few big retailers don't seem upset. And there I suppose is where the money is.

    John

  6. #6
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    Hi John
    The petition has been doing the rounds of the jewellers on FB and the various forums on there for a few weeks now. It probably means more to us as you say

  7. #7
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    But an item with a Mumbai elephant hallmark could not be sold in the UK. That's the Hallmarking acts for you.
    The whole requirement for a hallmark is probably a breach of EU law anyway, while we are still in, as it is a requirement for goods which can legally be sold in another member state to go through an assessment process before being sold here. Its called a qualitative barrier to trade.
    Last edited by pearlescence; 03-09-2016 at 06:17 AM.
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
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    668

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    Quote Originally Posted by pearlescence View Post
    But an item with a Mumbai elephant hallmark could not be sold in the UK. That's the Hallmarking acts for you.
    The whole requirement for a hallmark is probably a breach of EU law anyway, while we are still in, as it is a requirement for goods which can legally be sold in another member state to go through an assessment process before being sold here. Its called a qualitative barrier to trade.
    The French also hallmark their silver and I believe that there's an accord struck with the UK, to recognise one another's hall marks, so strictly no requirement of assessment for all goods.

  9. #9
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    Sep 2016
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    On the hallmarking Act the Birmingham people checked this and the Hallmarking Act was amended in 2013 to allow offshore offices to strike a different mark 'approved by the BHC' so that retailers and buyers could differentiate between a UK and overseas assayed item. I believe all the assay offices even designed different marks for this purpose, they seem to have chosen not to use this option. Hence the fuss, provision was made for a different mark, but the suspicion is that big overseas manufacturers wanted local assay in India using the same UK marks on pieces that I presume are not just destined for the UK but other countries in the EU.

  10. #10
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    Yes and me, I signed it too.

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