A buyer's guide
Identifying gold and silver
Every genuine UK piece leaves a trail of tiny stamped clues. Here's what to look for before you bring your items in — though our free evaluation will always confirm it properly.
Gold hallmarks
What the carat numbers mean
UK gold is hallmarked with a fineness number showing how many parts per thousand are pure gold. This is usually stamped inside a ring shank, on a clasp, or on the back of a pendant — often small enough to need a loupe.
e.g. an 18ct piece is 750 parts pure gold per 1000 — the remaining 250 parts are alloy metals that add strength and colour.
Anatomy of a full UK hallmark
Sponsor's mark
A shield containing the initials of the maker or company who submitted the item for hallmarking.
Fineness mark
The three-digit number (375, 750, 916...) stamped inside a shield shape — the purity itself.
Assay office mark
A symbol showing which UK assay office tested it — a leopard's head for London, an anchor for Birmingham, a rose for Sheffield, or a castle for Edinburgh.
By law, gold items under roughly 1g don't require a full hallmark — many thin chains and small charms are genuine without one, which is exactly why our free evaluation tests every piece properly rather than relying on stamps alone.
Silver hallmarks
Spotting genuine silverware
British sterling silver is marked 925 — meaning 925 parts pure silver per 1000 — and is traditionally shown with a lion passant (a walking lion) alongside the fineness number. Higher-purity Britannia silver (958) carries a seated figure of Britannia instead of the lion.
On cutlery and silverware, look for a small cluster of stamps near the base of a handle, the underside of a bowl, or the inside rim of a cup — usually grouped together and easy to miss without a magnifying glass. Continental and older European silver is often simply stamped with a number such as 925 or 800, without the full British mark set.
A simple home check
Neither gold nor silver is magnetic
A strong magnet will pull toward common base metals and steel, which are often used as the core of fake or plated jewellery — but genuine gold and silver won't react to it at all. It's a handy first check, though not foolproof: a few other non-magnetic metals can also pass this test. Weight, colour, hallmarks, and proper acid or electronic testing together give the full picture, which is exactly what we do at every free evaluation.