Quarterly Hallmarking Figures / July - September 2007

The total number of articles hallmarked across the four UK Assay Offices was up
6.3% in the quarter ended 30th September 2007 compared with the corresponding quarter in 2006. The strongest categories were Sterling silverand Platinum. Sterling silver articles being up 26.8% and Platinum articles up 15.6% However, the total number of gold articles hallmarked was down 3.7%.

The 9ct volume market has continued to suffer in the third quarter with a decline of 5.8%.
However, 14ct and 18ct were up by 26.1% and 3.8% respectively. Commenting on the figures, Chief Executive, Michael Allchin, said: "This is an encouraging trend. 9ct gold is clearly still losing volume, but the increase in silver and higher quality gold more than compensate for it."

The individual figures are as follows: