Sheffield Assay Office champions new jewellery talent, 253 years after its first hallmark

Every time someone in Britain buys a piece of gold or silver jewellery, they rely on one of the oldest forms of consumer protection there is: the hallmark. Sheffield has been part of that story since 1773, and the Sheffield Assay Office is one of only four assay offices remaining in the UK.

Its origins lie with the city's silversmiths, who joined with those of Birmingham to petition Parliament for assay offices of their own. The resulting Act appointed 30 local men as Guardians of the Standard of Wrought Plate in the Town of Sheffield, with the number of silversmiths among them restricted to ten to keep the office independent. The first articles were hallmarked on 20 September 1773.

Over the years the office moved from Fargate to Leopold Street and then Portobello Street, before relocating to a purpose-built home at Guardians' Hall on Beulah Road in Hillsborough. In the early days most work came from within 20 miles; today customers come from all over the world, and jewellery and precious metal items are still assayed in their millions each year.

The office has kept evolving. It was the first UK assay office to be awarded UKAS accreditation for its analytical services, and it now offers Diamond Verification Services to help retailers and consumers identify natural and lab-grown diamonds.

It also loves to champion new talent. In September 2026 it celebrated this year's MA Jewellery and Metalwork students, presenting Highly Commended awards to Fiona Blythe, Heli Meng and Yufei Qi, and the Assay Master's Award to Isabel Woods for a collection inspired by her connection to Wales.

The same month, the office welcomed a new piece into its collection, donated by Morvarid Alavifard, a Silver Fellow at Silver Space, Yorkshire Artspace. Pearly Whisper III is a limited-edition print taken from her original silver engraving. "I turn to silver as a diary," she explains, adding that her time in Sheffield has given her a new appreciation of the hallmark.

For anyone who treasures a piece of Sheffield-marked jewellery, it is a reminder of the expertise behind that small stamp. News, services and history are on the Sheffield Assay Office website.