subject: Evolved As The Guarantee Of Quality For Customers [print this page] Many people want to find genuine jewellery and aren't confident how to tell if they are getting what they are seeking for. The hallmark proves that the piece of jewellery has that quality that they are paying for. The question of quality can be easily answered by looking at the hallmarks on the piece of gold and diamond jewellery.
Hallmark jewellery was legally established in England in 1300 under the reign of King Edward I. He ordered that all gold and silver items must go through a test called an assay that would certify its fineness. An assay is a test to check the purity of an alloy. His declaration stated that all silver crafts must be made from 0.925 silver or sterling silver at least. Normally, hallmarks are found on gold, platinum, and even silver. These hallmarks, also called purity marks, may sometimes contain a maker's mark. When hallmarks appear on a jwellery it provides many evidences as to where and when the piece of jewelry was manufactured and even the metal content.
Hallmark jwellery comes as a relief to the customers trying so far for authentic antique jewelry. However, some jewelry hallmarks do consist of maker's marks also. It is vital to identify that a maker's mark and a jewelry hallmark are not the similar thing at all. For eradication of these controversies a hallmarking convention was held for a uniform and standardized hallmarking system or schemes.
The convention developed a Common Control Mark (CCM), a mark which indicates the fineness of the goods tested by an Assay Office in a particular country. This hallmarking convention system was developed which will contribute to the more competent trade of precious metals between member countries. Metals containing the CCM do not have to test of its quality any more and are easily accepted by other member countries. With the evolution of this hallmark jwellery system, it has become easier across the world to decipher of precious metals.
London's Goldsmiths' Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths made the first move on the first hallmark and kept track of all the hallmarks that have been used throughout Britain's history. However, the United States has never really used hallmarks. They mark the type of metal in carats and purity, but the use of actual hallmarks has never really trapped like it happens in the European countries. Apart from this there are a lot of other countries that use hallmarks. Hallmarks are thus official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of jewellery.
