Hallmarking and Quaichshop’s Sponsors Mark

Quaichshop’s Sterling Silver quaichs are hallmarked at the Edinburgh Assay Office, which is one of the four Assay Offices of Great Britain.  The Edinburgh Office was established in 1457, and so for well over 500 years it has been assuring the quality of objects made from a range of precious metals.  This quality assurance helps to protect consumers, and so build trust in the standard of items made from these precious metals. Visual proof of the quality assurance process is provided by the Hallmarking system, with which most of us are probably familiar to some degree.

ASSAY OFFICE TOWN MARKS

Silver, palladium, gold and platinum are normally utilised in the form of alloys (combinations) with less precious metals. This is done to achieve the desired strength, durability, colour etc. of the finished object.  One cannot detect the gold, silver, platinum or palladium content of an object by looking at it, or by handling the item.  It’s therefore a legal requirement for all articles consisting of these four metals (subject to certain exemptions) to be hallmarked, if they are to be described as such.

Quaichshop has, fairly recently, registered its own Sponsor’s Mark with the Edinburgh Assay Office.  This mark  increasingly appears on our Sterling Silver quaichs, as they go out around the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.  The QS mark, within its cartouche, denotes that the quaich is one of ours!

Our Sponsor’s Mark appears alongside two compulsory hallmarks:  925 within an oval surround, denoting that the item is made from Sterling Silver, and a three-towered Castle within a shield-shaped surround, denoting the Edinburgh Assay Office.  Together with our Sponsors Mark, and the two compulsory marks, our quaichs also bear two further optional hallmarks:  the Lion Rampant – a traditional fineness symbol – denoting Sterling Silver (Scotland), and the Date Letter, denoting the year in which the item was hallmarked.

For anyone who is interested in the subject of hallmarking, as it relates to Quaichshop’s products or in a wider sense, the Edinburgh Assay Office produces a clear and informative Guide to Hallmarking.

It’s reassuring to know that the objects made from precious metals that we buy, sell, gift and cherish, are subject to these strict quality controls.  The new trading era that we are entering from 1st January 2021 will inevitably mean there will be some changes to the way these systems operate between the United Kingdom and the European Union, but I think we can be confident that the current or equivalent safeguards will still operate, to the benefit of us all.