Why I'm celebrating with the Queen!
Top of the news this week was that on Sunday, Her Majesty the Queen became the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, having acceded to the throne in 1952.
To commemorate the Queen's 70 years of service for her people and country, the British Hallmarking Council, has sanctioned a celebratory component mark depicting an orb. For the whole of this year, jewellers can request to have the special mark added to their jewellery adding to it’s history and provenance.
About Hallmarking
When any jeweller begins working and selling precious metal jewellery, they have a legal duty to register for a unique maker’s mark and to send pieces to their chosen assay office for testing.
On arrival, pieces are weighed and tested before being struck with a set of hallmarks to denote the standard and quality of the metal. With three offices to choose from in the UK and one in Scotland, I chose to register mine at the oldest - The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office in London.
Commemorative marks have always been popular in the UK and the Platinum Jubilee ‘Orb’ can be applied to any precious metal, alongside the standard hallmarks.
This is the first time that I will have been able to request a commemorative mark as I just missed out on the Diamond Jubilee mark in 2012 so, I will be requesting that all my hallmarked jewellery (both collections and commission pieces) made between now and the end of 2022 includes the commemorative orb.
So, perhaps if commissioning a new and unique piece of jewellery has been on your mind for a while or maybe you have an older piece that you no longer wear and would like remodelled, this would be a perfect year to do so- you’d certainly be celebrating in good company!
Keep in Touch
Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to discuss an idea.
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