Silver and Hall marking - incorporate the clock?

Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

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Jere:
Hi Chris,

Maybe you could make the dial from silver sheet, that would be an impressive piece of metal.

I know the laws are (or at least were) quite different than they are here in the USA regarding official hallmarks.
You could always have a stamp made to your own design or fancy. Provided it is for your own private use I can not see how it would be an issue. You can use it to stamp tools and other things made in your shop.
Just Google "custom steel stamp" and there are numerous companies that produce stamps from drawings.

I didn't see this link above, it may be useful as well for more legal/historical info in the UK.
http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/assay-office/

Jere

raynerd:
Hello Jere

Very good to hear from you. I keep checking up on your progess on your website and all looks good. The fingerplate you are making is really interesting as I expect it will be my next tool I make before I start any future projects.

I did consider the dial but it would be a very large piece of silver needed only for me to cut out the centre to leave a rim! I expect I could sell this center piece to reclaim some of its value but I`m not sure where.

Your link is very useful. I have been using it. There are 4 assay offices currently running in UK; London (Goldsmiths Hall), Sheffield, Birminhgam and Edinburgh. Your link I believe if for the London Goldsmiths Hall. Since I live closer to Birmingham or Sheffield so I have been using there sites more but the information on all of them is near identical and the costs very similar. I have weighed up various options and considered just stamping myself. The issue is that here in the UK, it seems the stamps are much more expensive to make - £100+ . It only costs £70 to make the stamp going through the Assay Hall and then £60 to register for 15 years! Each item to get officially stamped is then only a £1 or £2 maximum. It becomes nearly as economical to have them officially done and then at least they are legal to sell if the need arised in future. With that initial costing out of the way, I can stamp any item for the next 15 years for only a few pounds - I`m pretty sure it is only £30 to re-register when the time comes.

Does anyone know if I could purchase a custom size and shape (a rim) of sterling silver from anywhere in the UK ? Or anyone who would purchase the sterling silver back off me once I`ve cut the centre piece out? I don`t think I could afford to purchase the full size stock without the centre removed! That is one of the reasons the hands are at the top of my list due to the lower price of the stock metal.

eidbi:
Hi,
At one time quite a few years ago I made jewellery from silver and had my makers mark, just my initials but it was registered in the Assay office in Dublin.
If you sell or barter anything in silver in the UK and Ireland it must be hallmarked. The items are stamped with your mark and then you send them to the assay office. They test for the quality of silver or gold and if it up to the quality of 92.5% or the relevant carat for the gold they hallmark them with the office, the quality and a year mark. If it or they are not up to quality they destroy the pieces and give them back to you. I understand that they cut them up but I have no personal experience thankfully. There are exceptions to the rules, for instance I have been told that if the stone/s are of greater value than the silver or gold then hallmarking isn't necessary. This explains why engagement rings are not hallmarked and wedding ones are. The rules for the UK and Ireland now I believe are very similar since they were the same at one time.

When you are getting your makers mark made you can get it made quite big as most of the things your are talking about are quite big. But you can have more than one. I have two, one for rings which has a semicircle in the shaft of the punch, and another slightly bigger and straight for anything else.
Regards,
Hamilton

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