Hallmarking Act 1973

PART II Articles Comprised of Two or More Precious Metals

4 An article comprised of two or more precious metals shall be hallmarked only if—

(1) it is of a description specified in one or other of the following sub-paragraphs ; and

(2) it complies with paragraph 5 of this Schedule,

and shall be hallmarked only in the manner specified for an article of that description—

(a) where gold parts exceed 50 per cent, by weight of a whole article, which also contains platinum but not silver parts, the gold parts shall be hallmarked as if they comprised a separate article ;

(b) where silver parts exceed 50 per cent, by weight of a whole article which also contains gold or platinum parts or both such parts, the silver parts shall be hallmarked as if they comprised a separate article ;

(c) where any small working parts (which for technical reasons cannot be made of the same standard of fineness or of the same precious metal as the remainder of the article) form part of an article of which the remainder is of a higher standard of fineness or of a more precious metal, the part which is of the higher standard of fineness or (as the case may be) of the more precious metal shall be hallmarked as if it comprised a separate article and the parts which are of the lower standard of fineness or of the less precious metal shall be struck only with the standard mark for the metal of which those parts are made. For the purposes of this sub-paragraph platinum shall be deemed more precious than gold or silver and gold be deemed more precious than silver; and “more precious ” and “less precious ” shall be construed accordingly;

(d) where any article of silver is coated in whole or in part with gold, the article shall be hallmarked as if it were comprised only of silver; and

(e) where any article of gold, silver or platinum is coated in whole or in part with rhodium, the article shall be hallmarked as if it were comprised only of gold, silver or platinum (as the case may be) ;

and in relation to any article of the description of sub-paragraphs (a) or (b) of this paragraph the precious metal of the part of the article which is not (in terms of sub-paragraph (a)) of gold or not (in terms of sub-paragraph (b)) of silver may, at the discretion of the assay office, be marked only with the standard mark.

5 The parts of platinum, of gold or platinum, of less precious metal and the gold coating referred to respectively in sub-paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the last foregoing paragraph shall each be of a standard of fineness not less than the minimum fineness for that metal mentioned in column (2) of paragraph 2 of this Schedule.