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Hallmarks; what are they?
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Look inside one of our gold rings, or easier, at the design on the outside of our Hallmark ring range. These are easy to read \'display\' marks. What you see are stamps with a meaning!
The first stamp (called a \'mark\') is the \'sponsors\' mark. In our case it is the initials GGM that we registered with the Assay Office when Whichcraft first started making jewellery back in the early 1970s.
The second mark is the Royal Crown which denotes \'Gold\'.
The third stamp defines the gold, giving it a number in parts per thousand. Commonly seen here are; 375 for 9ct or 750 denoting 18ct gold. Less often the No 585 will be seen. This denotes 14ct gold, a gold mix that is popular with North Americans but is rarely sold in the rest of the world.
The next mark is that of the Leopards head. This is the stamp that tells that the item was assayed in the London Assay Office. (The Birmingham office has an Anchor as it\'s mark, Sheffield has the Rose and Edinburgh has the Castle).
The final stamp is a letter of the alphabet. This letter is changed every year and every 26 years the font/typeface is also changed.
This archaic system still works very well. With just one glance at the marks, one can tell instantly who made it, what it is made of, how pure it is, where it was made and when it was made!
Very rarely a \'commemorative\' mark is issued which will be added to those above. One such mark was issued in 2002 on the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. This was only the fourth such mark to be issued since 1327, so an item containing these marks are comparatively rare. Collectors pieces really!
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