Assay Office Birmingham

Pictured - the new Assay Office

The Assay Office in Birmingham was founded in 1773 following a campaign by Matthew Boulton who was making an increasing amount of silverware at the nearby Soho Manufactory. For over 220 years the Assay Office was confined to its statutory duty of assaying (testing) precious metals and applying the appropriate hallmark to indicate that the precious metal content was as stated.

In 1995 statutory hallmarking was under threat from European harmonisation and the Assay Office lobbied Parliament once again. A successful outcome changed legislation to allow the Assay Office to diversify into other sectors and it now provides a range of additional services designed to protect both the consumer and the trade. These include precious metal testing and consumer product safety testing from its AnchorCert Analytical Lab, Diamond and Gemstone certification from Anchorcert Gem Lab and Jewellery, Watch and Silverware valuations from SafeGuard. For full details visit www.theassayoffice.co.uk.

Since its move to new premises, its sixth home in over 240 years, Assay Office Birmingham has recently formed a new division, AnchorCert Academy. The Academy is committed to sharing the knowledge, experience and passion of its team of experts with other members of the trade. Regular training courses targeted at industry professionals are available and the Academy team are working hard to make their huge resource of books, silver, coins, registers and archives in their Private collections accessible to researchers and historians.

Pictured - bread basket by Matthew Boulton.