When investing in precious jewelry, the foremost concern is understandably its authenticity. As determining purity by sight or touch alone is not feasible, the hallmark becomes crucial in ensuring the genuineness of the piece.

A hallmark is a set of symbols engraved into authentic gold, silver, platinum, and palladium jewelry, signifying purity and ensuring authenticity. Although it's common to alloy pure metals with less valuable forms to enhance color, durability, and flexibility, UK regulations stipulate a minimum amount of pure metal in the alloy for the piece to rightfully earn its precious title.

Each hallmarked piece of jewelry undergoes independent testing and marking to guarantee compliance with legal purity standards. In essence, hallmarking serves as a safeguard against fraud for both jewelry buyers and suppliers, offering clear insight into the materials used and instilling full confidence in the authenticity of the purchase.

To identify the metal type and confirm the purity of a jewelry item, a small metal scratch is taken for analysis at an assay office. Once determined, the assay office will then stamp or laser the appropriate hallmark symbols onto the piece.

In contemporary times, manufacturers often choose laser marking over stamping to avoid compromising the durability and altering the shape of more delicate pieces, like those with hollowed-out or sleek ring styles. However, a drawback of lasering is that the hallmark can be easily polished out. In such cases, if the piece is sold again, it must be returned to an assay office for reassessment.