What is 'Created in the UK'?

Jewellery has the unique consumer protection system of hallmarks. Any piece of jewellery crafted in a precious metal, such as silver, gold, platinum or palladium, by law requires a hallmark to indicate the purity of precious metal in the alloy. A stamp of 375 tells us we are buying 9ct gold, 750 means it is 18ct, or 925 is code for silver.

Further optional marks can be applied, such as a Maker’s Mark or unique symbol that identifies the craftsperson or brand that made the piece, as well as marks that show the year it was hallmarked and the location of the Assay Office that struck the marks - the UK has four, based in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh. These tell us where an item was tested rather than where it was made but, as with clothing and food, there is now a way to tell the Country of Origin for jewellery pieces.

This is "Created in the UK" which identifies items that have been made in the UK. The mark is added alongside the hallmark by the assay office and is only allowed to be applied to UK made jewellery from registered members of the scheme.

The scheme was set up by the National Association of Jewellers (NAJ), the trade body for British jewellers to which F.Hinds has belonged for several decades and which has a Code of Conduct so that members of the public can be reassured that they are buying from a reputable and professional jeweller.

Andrew Hinds proposed the idea when a member of the British Hallmarking Council and Co-Chair of the NAJ and was delighted to be able to register F.Hinds as a founding member of the scheme even before it was launched: click to read more. Brands and designers go through an auditing process to verify the location of their workmanship. Those that qualify can also display the Created in the UK logo on their website.

“This mark is all about differentiating between jewellery made in the UK and jewellery that is made elsewhere,” explains Lindsey Straughton, jewellery industry promotions ambassador at the NAJ. “With the UK leaving the European Union, we believe there will be a growing market for authenticated, UK-made jewellery.”

“We believe UK-made jewellery creations with the additional mark will be the collectable heirlooms of the future,” she says. “Through Created in the UK, we can highlight and emphasise the diversity and quality of jewellery being made here in the UK. I believe jewellery shoppers will be pleasantly surprised at just how much craftsmanship and talent there is right on their doorstep.”

There are legal requirements in place to determine what can and cannot be declared UK made. One of the key conditions of securing the mark is that pieces must be ‘manufactured or produced in the country in which they last underwent a treatment or process resulting in a substantial change’. This means gold plating a piece of silver jewellery in the UK when it was made in the Far East, or polishing a an imported locket does not constitute a ‘substantial change’ and therefore a piece made this way will not pass as Created in the UK.

Fortunately for us, several of our ranges are made in the UK and so it was easy to qualify. This includes our Signature Collection range of Certificated Diamond rings that are individually selected by Andrew Hinds FGA, certificated at the AnchorCert gemmological laboratory at the Birmingham Assay Office and set by hand into rings and other jewellery that are made exclusively for us at our workshops in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. We run other UK made ranges such as our plain wedding rings and are looking to include these in the scheme to provide additional customer reassurance.

Some customers like to support British industry, whilst others like to know that the workshops being used are in a country with strict labour and health and safety laws. Others know and trust the quality of British manufacturing and design and appreciate that their item hasn't had to travel halfway round the world to reach them.