Posts Tagged: carat gold

Hallmarks of Great Britain

Introduction

In the UK, Hallmarking dates back approximately 700 years and is possibly one of the earliest forms of consumer protection.

Hallmarks are small markings stamped onto Gold, Silver and Platinum Metals. They tell the consumer that the metal has undergone testing and conforms to all legal standards of purity (also known as fineness).

The tests are carried out by one of four assay offices in the United Kingdom (London, Birmingham, Sheffield & Edinburgh).

It is illegal for anybody to describe a metal as gold, silver or platinum without a hallmark.

Current UK Hallmarks

hallmarks of Britain
Since January 1999, all UK Hallmarks must contain 3 symbols.

  • Maker or Sponsor’s Mark
  • Metal & Fineness Mark
  • Assay Office Mark

The image to the right show examples of the symbols contained within all hallmarks.

Testing Gold, Silver or Platinum without Hallmarks

FalkosGold purchase gold, silver or platinum scrap without hallmarks. We are able to test Scrap Gold, Silver and Platinum of most carats in-house using a well respected acid test within minutes.

For foreign and other gold which is above 22ct in purity, FalkosGold will be able to pay up to 22ct on the day. If the gold is not hallmarked and our customers wish to be paid against a higher purity, then the gold may need to be taken for a ‘Melt and Assay’ which will determine the purity.

This also applies to precious metals used for industrial purposes where a hallmark may not be present. Examples include Platinum Crucibles, Platinum Thermocouples, Rhodium etc.

Sell Gold, Silver, Platinum, Rhodium Scrap without hallmarks

Please contact FalkosGold on 0207 096 1749 or enquiries@falkosgold.co.uk for up to date advice and best prices for selling your gold, silver, platinum or Rhodium without hallmarks.

Scrap Gold – What are Carats?

A carat (also known as karat) is a unit of purity for gold. One carat is contains 1 part gold to 23 parts other substance. 24 carat is pure gold, which means that there are 24 parts gold.
When making gold jewellery, the gold is usually mixed with other metals like silver or copper which reduce the carat purity.

Reasons for doing this include changing the colour of the gold and to increase durability of the gold because adding other metals make the gold harder to wear.
The most common purity of gold jewellery in the UK is 9 carat. This means that there are 9 parts gold to 15 parts other metal.

If you divide 9 by 24 and multiply by 100, you will get 37.5. 37.5 is the percentage purity of 9ct gold. You may have even heard of the term parts per thousand (ppt). All hallmarked 9ct gold jewellery in the UK has a 375 stamp on it. It means that there are 375 parts gold per thousand.
Other carat purities are listed in the table below.

 

Carat – % Purity - PPT

9 – 37.5 % - 375
10 – 41.6 % – 416
14 - 58.3 % - 583
15 - 62.5 % - 625
18 – 75.0 % - 750
22 – 91.6 % - 916
24 - 99.9 % - 999

Falkos Jewellers purchase all types of gold from 9ct to pure gold bars. Whether the gold is hallmarked or not, we are able to test its carat purity in-house.

For gold items which are not hallmarked, but in a raw or industrial form, this may involve melting and assaying the gold to determine its purity.

Sell Scrap Gold to Falkos Jewellers