Figures compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office show hallmarking increased by 3% in March and by 1.9% in Q1 2019.
All metals apart from palladium experienced a lift during March and the first quarter of the year.
At 13%, Platinum reported the biggest rise in Q1, with gold and silver reporting increases of 2.9% and 1.3%.
Palladium suffered a 44.5% dip.
In total 2,090,510 items were hallmarked in the first quarter of the year.
The full results can be seen below…
UK Hallmarking figures for Q1 2019
Gold
24ct (999) – up 8.2% (397 items)
24ct (990) – up 262.5% (29 items)
22ct (916) – up 0.7% (101,440 items)
18ct (750) – up 11.5% (188,908 items)
14ct (585) – up 32.6% (41,216 items)
9ct (375) – down 0.8% (566,309 items)
Total gold items – up 2.9% (898,399 items)
Silver
Fine silver (999) – down 51.9% (3,412 items)
Britannia silver (958) – down 43.5% (2,013 items)
Sterling silver (925) – up 1.8% (1,101,051 items)
800 parts silver – down 71.5% (55 items)
Total silver items – up 1.3% (1,106,531 items)
Platinum
999 parts – up 29.4% (22 items)
950 parts – up 12.7% (74,503 items)
900 parts – 57.0% (146 items)
850 parts – up 1511.1% (145 items)
Total platinum items – up 13.0% (74,816 items)
Palladium
999 parts – Neutral (2 items)
950 parts – down 47.3% (8,548 items)
500 parts – down 30.6% (2,214 items)
Total palladium items – down 23.9% (19,408 items)
Total items hallmarked in Q1 2019: 2,090,510 – up 1.9%
UK Hallmarking figures for March 2018 vs March 2019
Gold
24ct (999) – up 393.9% (367 items)
24ct (990) – down 50.0% (1 item)
22ct (916) – down 0.5% (37,561 items)
18ct (750) – up 19.5% (68,158 items)
14ct (585) – up 30.3% (16,294 items)
9ct (375) – down 0.2% (212,328 items)
Total gold items – up 4.5% (334,709 items)
Silver
Fine silver (999) – down 34.2% (1,388 items)
Britannia silver (958) – down 46.0% (550 items)
Sterling silver (925) – up 1.4% (323,142 items)
800 parts silver –up 333.3% (13 items)
Total silver items – up 1.0% (325,093 items)
Platinum
999 parts – down 50.0% (1 item)
950 parts – up 20.5% (27,462 items)
900 parts – down 23.1%% (50 items)
850 parts – Up 83.3 (11 items)
Total platinum items – up 20.4% (27,524 items)
Palladium
999 parts – Neutral (1 item)
950 parts – down 43.3% (2,780items)
500 parts – up 19.2% (677 items)
Total palladium items – down 36.8% (3,458 items)
Total items hallmarked in March 2019: 690,784 – up 3.0%