An official or statutory
organisation controlling the testing of precious
metals, coins or jewellery within a
country. In the United
States, for example, the US Assay Office, New York, functions exclusively in the
service of the US Mint to test and grade metal
in coins. In
Britain, independent assay offices in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh
hallmark all gold and platinum articles, while
all silver articles are hallmarked in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Norwich and
Glasgow. Similar assay offices in Finland, France (Bureau de la Garantie), Ireland,
the Netherlands and Sweden provide hallmark protection in Europe.
In Switzerland, the Bureau
Central du Contrôle Métaux Précieux in Berne exercises obligatory
hallmarking of all watch cases in precious metals.
Assay offices for the hallmarking
of jewellery have also been established in Bahrain, Egypt, Hong Kong, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and other countries,
although hallmarking at these offices is not always compulsory. See
also Assay.