A hallmark is an official method of annotating the characteristic of items made from precious metals such as platinum, gold and silver. Hallmarks are generally used to refer to any distinguishing characteristic, and therefore also appear on certain types of antiques, such as ceramics. A hallmark is different to a trademark or “maker’s mark” simply because a hallmark is an independent standard.
A hallmark is a physical impression made into the jewellery metal itself, consisting of numbers, letters and symbols.
A way to think of hallmarks on jewellery is a form of code that can be interpreted to indicate the type of meta used, the purity, the maker or sponsor’s mark, and the year of manufacture. In some cases, there might also be an assay office mark, which indicates the office where the metallurgical composition of the metal is independently verified.
Determining the gold hallmarks of an item will help considerably when you’re trying to value your gold.
Where to find gold hallmarks
Gold Hallmarks on a Ring
Hallmarks are usually 1mm to 2mm in size on jewellery, but since jewellery is typically very fine, these marks are hidden from view when the item is worn.
If you think of the high cost of gold, most gold jewellery items will be relatively small. This means there are limited locations for hiding the hallmark.
- For gold rings – the gold hallmark will typically be inside the band, which you’d never see when the ring was on your hand.
- For necklaces – look behind the pendant, or on the clasp.
- For bracelet chains – look on the clasp.
- For bracelet bands – look inside the band.
- For earrings – look at any part of the earring that would be hidden from view whilst being worn.
Hallmarks for the different gold purities
Although you might find other hallmarks on a piece of jewellery, it’s also common to just find the purity mark and nothing else. Finding just the purity mark is common for gold items that are not originally from the UK, or items that are custom made but have not been properly assayed (independently tested for metal content).
Below are the most common hallmarks for indicating metal purity, but sometimes you might just see ’22′ or ’22ct’ for a purity (which would indicate 22ct gold). As you can see, the most common symbols actually correspond not to the carat rating, but the actual purity of gold in the item.
| Hallmark Symbol | Other mark variations |
Carat Rating | Gold Purity |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
9ct 9k, 9kt | 9ct | 37.5% |
 |
14ct, 14k, 14kt | 14ct | 58.3% |
 |
18ct, 18k, 18kt | 18ct | 75.0% |
 |
22, 22ct, 22k, 22kt | 22ct | 91.6% |
 |
 999, 999.9 |
24ct | 100% |
As of the Hallmarking act of 1973, hallmarking was simplified and regulated. Therefore all gold items that weigh over 1g or more must be hallmarked before they can be legally described as being gold.
Now you know what purity your gold is, you can begin to value your gold based on the latest scrap gold prices.
Gold Hallmark Reference Books
We’ve only covered the most basic hallmarks above. If you want a good reference booklet on hallmarks for gold and other precious metals, do take a look at one of these inexpensive books. These books will tell you more about where your scrap gold was made and what year the jewellery was made/marked.
