Now Live: The Chapman Hallmark Identifier

Reading about hallmarks? Now read your own. Our free tool walks you through the marks on your jewellery, mark by mark, no experience needed. Open the Hallmark Identifier.

Hallmarking Is Not a Nicety. It Is the Law.

Under the Hallmarking Act 1973 it is a criminal offence for anyone selling in the course of trade or business to describe an unhallmarked item as gold, silver, platinum or palladium, or even to offer it for sale as such. The exemptions are few and narrow, such as gold items under 1 gram and genuine pre-1950 antiques of proven fineness. The hallmark, struck by an independent UK assay office, is the law's own guarantee that the metal is exactly what the seller claims. That is why these marks are worth understanding, and why it is worth checking that your own gold carries them. Read your marks with the free Hallmark Identifier.

Why Real Marks Never Quite Match the Chart

Every reference chart shows one tidy drawing per year, but the marks on real jewellery were struck by hand-cut punches that varied more than any chart admits. The assay offices cut different punch sizes for rings, chains and watch cases; outline shapes drifted across a twenty-five year cycle; and decades of wear soften every edge. So when you compare your own gold against any chart, ours included, read the STYLE of the letter first: Gothic, Roman or script, capital or lowercase. The letter style dates a piece far more reliably than the exact shield around it, and knowing that puts you ahead of most of the trade. When a mark still will not settle, that is normal, not failure: work through it with the Hallmark Identifier or email us a sharp photo and we will read it for you, free.

Hallmarking Explained

Why we hallmark, and why the law says we must
Put a 9 carat gold chain beside an 18 carat one. Same colour, same shine, same weight in the hand. One holds twice the gold of the other. Nobody can tell them apart by looking. That includes us. The four UK Assay Offices put it in one sentence in their own published guidance: "It is not possible to detect by sight or by touch the platinum, gold, palladium or silver content of an item. It is therefore a legal requirement to hallmark all articles consisting of platinum, gold, palladium or... Read more...
Gold Hallmarks Across Europe: The Convention Mark and the National Systems
Gold Hallmarks Across Europe: The Convention Mark and the National Systems A gold hallmark is a promise about purity, but Europe makes that promise in two very different ways: through one international mark designed to be recognised across borders, and through a patchwork of national systems, each with its own symbols, laws and level of independent testing. The distinction matters whenever you buy, sell or value gold, because a stamp that guarantees purity in one country may be only a maker's own declaration in another. The Vienna Convention and the... Read more...
Why American Gold Has No Hallmark: The US Marking System Explained
American gold carries no hallmark because the United States has never had assay offices. Since the National Stamping Act of 1906 the maker's own quality stamp, with a maker's mark beside it and the Federal Trade Commission's jewelry guides behind it, does the job that independent testing does in Britain. Why American Gold Has No Hallmark: The US Marking System Explained Pick up a gold ring bought in Britain and you will usually find a row of tiny symbols: a sponsor's mark, a millesimal number such as 375 or 750,... Read more...
Gold Marking Across Asia and the Middle East: From Mandatory Hallmarks to the Gold Souk
Gold is marked in three different ways across Asia and the Middle East: a mandatory state hallmark in India, one national purity standard in China, and sale by weight at high carat in the Gulf, with Japan marking on a voluntary basis. Gold Marking Across Asia and the Middle East: From Mandatory Hallmarks to the Gold Souk Britain's hallmark is a single system, seven centuries old. Across Asia and the Middle East, home to the world's two largest gold markets (World Gold Council, Gold Demand by Country), the marks on... Read more...
Look for the Hallmark: It's Your Guarantee
Dealer's Notice The official Dealer's Notice of the British Hallmarking Council, displayed below in full and unaltered, as required by the Hallmarking Act 1973. Download the official Dealer's Notice (PDF). © British Hallmarking Council. What this means when you buy from us In the UK it is illegal to supply or offer to supply any item described as gold, silver, platinum or palladium unless it is hallmarked, subject to the exemption weights below. A hallmark is the independent guarantee, applied by one of the four UK Assay Offices, that a... Read more...
UK Gold Hallmark Reference: Check Your Own Gold
To check your own gold against a British hallmark you need three tables: the fineness numbers, the marks of the four assay offices, and the date letters. All three are on this page, with the crown and the sponsor's mark explained alongside them. UK Gold Hallmark Reference: Check Your Own Gold Every genuine British gold hallmark is a short line of stamped symbols that, read together, tell you the purity, the office that tested it, and often the year. This is the practical reference: the tables you hold your own... Read more...
Gold Hallmarks Explained: The UK System
A British hallmark is a row of at least three stamped marks, applied by an independent assay office after the metal has been tested, that records the purity of a piece of gold, the office that tested it, and who was responsible for it. The number is the fineness, the office mark says where, the sponsor's mark says who, and a date letter, where present, says when. Gold Hallmarks Explained: The UK System A hallmark is the oldest form of consumer protection in Britain. Long before advertising standards or trading... Read more...