Second Hand
The second hand item service is for items that are submitted to us where the metal or
fineness is unknown, usually because the items, or part of the items, were not made
by the person submitting it for hallmarking, or if pre-owned items are melted
together creating an unknown standard on a new item.
Often parts of the same item consist of different metals or finenesses therefore
requiring additional testing or verification of each individual item rather than a
sample batch test. When items fit into this category the second-hand service fee in
our Pricelist will apply. You can see the Pricelist in our Downloads section here.
Second hand packets cannot be processed in one hour or overnight (“Early Hall”), if
you select an Early Hall service we will process your packet as a priority but do
not guarantee a turnaround time. Due to the complexity the
lead time is usually significantly longer than standard hallmarking services; at
least 7-12 working days.
All second-hand services need to be submitted at Goldsmiths' Hall.
Change of Use / altering already hallmarked articles
The practice of altering already hallmarked articles is becoming increasingly
popular - below are our guidelines on this process and detail on the various
outcomes. Where an item already bearing a hallmark is changed on purpose, ie. a
spoon is shaped to become a bangle, it still needs to be submitted to an Assay
Office for verification to ensure its provenance is
detailed.The law as outlined in The Hallmarking act states: ”.. it
shall be an offence for any person to make an addition, alteration or repair to
an article bearing approved hallmarks, except in accordance with the written
consent of an assay office.”We call the process of granting consent
for alterations, “Change of Use”.There are four possible
outcomes:
-
If you change an item from one form to another, without adding
any metal to the product, we will process this as a change
of use packet, assaying the metal, ensuring the
hallmark remains valid, adding a reference number to the piece and
assigning this number onto a change of use certificate which can
accompany the piece when it is sold.
-
If you add metal to the original item (there are weight
restrictions as stated in 5(4) of the Hallmarking Act*
Pg. 7) and change its use then we assay and hallmark this in its own
right, charging a second-hand item fee,
cross-hatching over the existing mark, leaving the provenance of the
original hallmark and applying a new hallmark on to the piece at the
appropriate standard.
-
If you add metal to the original item (there are weight
restrictions as stated in 5(4) of the Hallmarking
Act* Pg. 7) which has not had its use changed then an
additions mark can be applied.
-
If there is no hallmark on an item, irrelevant of whether the use
of it has been changed or had parts added, then it needs to be
submitted for a new hallmark and charged as a second-hand
item if the standard of the metal is unknown. This
also applies if the hallmark is deemed illegible by
us.
All Change of Use Services must be submitted at Goldsmiths'
Hall.
Please submit as a second-hand service packet and state in special requests
"Change of Use". This will then be treated as such.
*You can get a copy of the Hallmarking Act in the Downloads section here.