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We’ve teamed up with Klarna to provide flexible payment options, allowing you to shop the way you want. With Klarna, you can split your payment into 3 instalments or choose to pay later, making your shopping experience smoother and more convenient. Your order total must be between £100 and £499 to qualify.
November 12, 2020 | by Admin
It is law within the UK that every item of precious metal sold such as Platinum, Gold, Silver is stamped labelling the item with the type of metal it is. Platinum pieces which weigh less than 0.5 grams, 18ct Gold and Palladium pieces weighing less than 1.0 gram and Silver pieces weighing less than 7.78 grams are except from hallmark.
At Diamonds Factory all our products are hallmarked as per UK hallmarking law from London Assay Office (The GoldSmith Company)
The Goldsmiths' Company Assay Office is the oldest assay office in the United Kingdom. It has provided hallmarking services since The Goldsmiths' Company was founded in the 1300s. The company received its royal charter in 1327 and ranks 5th in order of precedence of the 12 Great Livery Companies of the City of London.
Hallmarking dates back to the 1300s when Edward I of England passed a law requiring any item made of silver, which was offered for sale, to be at least of equal quality as that of the coin of the realm (silver currency). The wardens of The Goldsmiths' Company were tasked with visiting workshops in the City of London to assay (test) silver articles. If these articles were found to be below standard they were originally destroyed and the metal forfeited to the King. If they passed, each article received the King's mark of authentication - the mark of a leopard's head. By 1478, there were several hundred workshops and merchants manufacturing silver articles in the City of London. It was not possible for the wardens to visit them all so the merchants were ordered to bring their items to Goldsmiths' Hall for testing and marking and a permanent Assay Office was established in the building. This is the origin of the term hallmark - struck with the King's mark at Goldsmiths' Hall.
In 1544 the Goldsmith's Company adopted the King's mark as their town mark and the mark of the leopard's head is now internationally recognised as the mark of this assay office.
The Goldsmiths's Company Assay Office is still based at Goldsmiths's Hall and remains the oldest company in Britain to be continually trading from the same site. However, it also has two satellite offices; at Greville Street in Hatton Garden in the heart of the London jewellery quarter and within a high security complex near London's Heathrow airport. It now has a new off-site facility within the Dalston-based jewellery manufacturer, Allied Gold. This is the first time in the Assay Office's 700 year history that it has opened permanent hallmarking services on a customer's premises.
In addition to hallmarking, the office has now expanded its range of services to support the jewellery trade and enforcement authorities. It offers a variety of specialist analytical services including nickel, lead & cadmium testing, antique silver dating, non-destructive compositional analysis, plating thickness measurement and a melt and assay service for scrap precious metal carried out in their fully independent on-site laboratory. Other services offered are a jewellery valuation service, laser marking, trading standards assistance, high quality photography and a comprehensive range of training and educational seminars, lectures and specialist events.
If you are looking for a way to represent love and commitment to your significant other, there are a few ways you can do this. More often than not, particularly in the UK, a gesture of a proposal along with an engagement ring is the most popular choice. However, did you know that there are other ways to represent your connection? In this article, we discuss the difference between proposal rings, promise rings and engagement rings.
What is a promise?
A promise is an agreement or pledge between two people. Of course, a promise can be made under most circumstances, but when it comes to a romantic relationship, the promise tends to be to stay faithful and committed. Promise rings are given and worn by both people to symbolise the love and connection between them.
What is a proposal?
A proposal is when one or both people in a relationship decide they would like to spend the rest of their lives together. It is a romantic gesture to show the intention to get married. Proposals are marked with a gift such as a ring, otherwise known as a proposal ring or engagement ring.
What is an engagement?
An engagement is where a couple decides to get married and this is marked with an engagement ring. Usually, only one person in the relationship wears the engagement ring, but this depends on the couple, and it is worn both before and after marriage.
Are proposal rings the same as engagement rings?
Surprisingly engagement rings and proposal rings aren’t quite the same, although they do serve the same purpose - the intent to get married and declare love for each other.
Proposal and engagement used to be spaced over a certain period, and there would be strict rules as to when each moment would happen. These days, the rules aren’t as rigid, and both the proposal and engagement can coincide. If you are looking to follow this tradition, first give the proposal ring followed by an engagement ring.
Are promise rings the same as proposal rings?
No, unlike proposal rings and engagement rings, a promise ring does not necessarily symbolise an intent to get married. Promise rings symbolise a promise between two people usually of love and commitment or to show their deep connection with each other.
The best proposal rings
The best proposal ring is one that suits your partners' taste. It may be similar to an engagement ring and feature diamonds or a little more delicate like a promise ring. As a proposal ring is typically bought as a placeholder, to replace it with an engagement ring, it may not be as extravagant or as expensive.
The best promise rings
Promise rings are usually a lot more delicate and vary in style. Typically they feature a single or multiple intricate diamonds for subtle sparkle and can be bought in several precious metals depending on your partners' taste.
The best engagement rings
Engagement rings are adorned with a single diamond or gemstone. There are plenty of great styles to choose from, but the most popular is a solitaire engagement ring. This style features a single diamond on a metal band. When buying an engagement ring, you will want it to last a lifetime, therefore choose a style and metal that is more durable.
Shop our range of promise rings and engagement rings or head to our other article to learn about the history of diamond engagement rings.