9ct gold hallmarking rises 23% in December figures

Hallmarking showed significant growth year-on-year in December 2014, according to new figures compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office.

Covering all four UK assay offices, 9ct gold showed the strongest rise with a 23% boost in December 2014 compared to December 2013. Silver continued to steadily climb with increases of 7.1%, while platinum also rose by 13% in what was a fantastic performance across all four alloys.

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Silver hallmarking suffers 17.8% dip in November

UK hallmarking suffered a 7.8% decline overall in November 2014, with the number of silver items hallmarking falling by 17.8%.

In the data complied from all four of the UK Assay Offices by the Birmingham Assay Office, 9ct and 22ct gold were the biggest victors rising 7% and 21.1% respectively.

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95,000 article increase for hallmarking in October

The latest hallmarking figures from the Birmingham Assay Office show that the total number of articles hallmarked across the four UK Assay Offices in October was 8.3% up on the same month in 2013 - an increase of 95,112 items hallmarked overall.

Gold continues its run at the forefront of assaying increases, with 9ct gold the strongest performing category again last month. In all, 92,878 additional 9ct pieces were hallmarked against the same month last year. This translates as an increase of 24.3%.

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September hallmarking figures up 18%, 9ct gold continues to shine

Rising hallmarking figures showed no sign of abating in September, as the latest results compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office showed an overall rise of 18.2% across all precious metals, compared with September last year. The standout performer was, as has become the norm this year, gold, with 9ct rising 100,644 items to 360,533 in total – a 38.7% rise. Interestingly, 22ct showed the second largest rise – 38.4% – and overall, gold showed an increase of 34%.

There were more modest rises in other metals, with silver showing a 5.2% rise (most of which was powered by a 5.1% rise in 925, which finished on 433,847 articles), and platinum rising 1.3%. Palladium stayed stationary overall, with exactly the same number of items being hallmarked in total as September last year (7,882).

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Ground broken on new Birmingham Assay Office site

Birmingham Assay Office bosses joined members of their building project team to begin work on the site of the new building at Icknield Street last week.

The Assay Office has been at its current home in Newhall Street since 1877, and says that the move within the Jewellery Quarter “demonstrates the confidence and commitment of one of Birmingham’s oldest businesses as it continues to invest for the future.”

Founded by an Act of Parliament in 1773, the Assay Office still carries out its statutory duty of testing and hallmarking precious metal but has widened its scope considerably in the past decade, now offering assessment, authentication and valuation of precious metals, jewellery, watches, fashion accessories and gemstones.

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