Assay requirement for my 1oz pour bars?

[Shane1985]

Hey guys,

You some of you know I am starting to make my own bars for resale, but when I queried the process with Assay they said this? No hallmark required and they will drill the bar?

 

“Hope you are well!

 

Refined bars do not need hallmarks to be sold. We would be drilling these bars for a certificate and stamping with a serial number that would match with your certificate.

 

You do not need to register with us for this service but you would need to fill in a special assay form, which I have attached for you.

 

I have also attached our price list and this service takes about 2 weeks.”

 

I’m a little confused here...

[Rll1288]

@BackyardBullion Has all the information on this but I believe some of the "pourers" view it as adding extra validation and quality to their pieces. I know the items I have bought from Mr. BYB has them and its something I believe adds value

[Shane1985]

@BackyardBullion I hope you are well buddy.

I just had a really long and interesting call with Assay London and the gentleman explained that Bullion does not fall under the UK hallmark act thus no legal requirement to get my bars hallmarked. He also said that it’s not work that they take on?

Now, I WANT TO get our bars hallmarked.. maybe you could share how and where you gets yours done? Is it in another Assay office?

Any help would be amazing.

[BackyardBullion]

So, I think a lot of what you have experienced is probably down to a lack of understanding on what you want to achieve with your products and to a certain extent how you described them to the London Assay Office. 

Personally I would suggest you call the Edinburgh Assay Office, the one I and so many other poured silver producers in the UK use. 

They have been hallmarking my stuff since early 2017 and I was one of the first to get registered with them for hand poured silver. 

They didn't even have a 999 stamp in the right size when I got registered and had to make one just for me!

Now, there are loads of people that hallmark with them for poured silver so it is well worth contacting them. 

They are also much more understanding of the requirements to test with compassion - so rather than drilling a massive hole in the middle of your pretty bar they will do it from the side, or the bottom and even plug the hole for you with 999 silver such that you cannot even tell most of the time (at a small cost).

For items that are Bullion - just ingots of metal then yes, you don't need to hallmark. If you want to have hallmarked poured silver bars though, you can still assay them voluntarily and it will almost certainly add more value than the cost to hallmark. 

Hope that helps, good luck and let us know how you get on. 

BYB

[Shane1985]

Thank you buddy, I will get in touch with Edinburgh Assay tomorrow to see how they can help me