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Bangles and cuff bangles

"What is a bangle?". A bangle is a piece of jewellery. It's a decorative ring made to decorate the wrist or the arm, so has to be big enough to slip over the hand. Some bangles have a hinge and some kind of lock so they can be opened to put on more easily. If a thing like this is flexible like a chain or leather or fabric, it's called a bracelet.

What the law says about Hallmarks

Overview

The purpose of hallmarking is to protect buyers of precious metal items against fraud. The hallmark is a mark which shows that the item has been independently tested and verified as matching its description, and conforming to all legal standards of purity or fineness of the metal.

All items (over certain weights) sold in the UK and described as being made from gold, silver, platinum or palladium must have a legally recognised hallmark. The law is set out in the Hallmarking Act 1973 (which has been amended and updated on various occasions).

Compulsory marks

A complete hallmark consists of 3 compulsory marks. If an item has not been stamped or marked with these 3 markings then it has not been properly hallmarked. All 3 marks must be present.

1. A sponsor’s or maker’s mark

This is the registered mark of the company or person that sends the item for hallmarking. Manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, importers and more can all be sponsors. In the UK, this mark has at least 2 letters, and all marks are unique.

2. A metal and purity (fineness) mark

This mark shows the precious metal content in the item, recorded in parts per thousand. This means that the number tells you the proportion of precious metal content in the alloy. For example, the fineness mark of 9 carat gold is 375. This tells us that the alloy must have at least 375 parts gold per 1,000. The shape surrounding the number indicates the metal type, which you can see in the diagram below.

3. An Assay Office mark

This mark shows which of the 4 Assay Office in the UK tested and hallmarked the item.

Full UK hallmark

A full UK hallmark tells you:

  1. Who submitted the article for hallmarking (sponsor’s mark)

  2. What the final metal is made of (Metal fineness mark)

  3. Where the article was hallmarked (Assay office town mark)

  4. When the article was hallmarked (date letter) is optional

Hallmarks

Measure Your Wrist for Bangle

STEP 1: Close your fingers together and bring your thumb to your little finger . Pretend that you were putting on a bangle

STEP 2: Using a strip of paper or tape measurements, wrap it around your hand at the widest point.. If you are using a plain strip of paper, mark your size with a pen on that paper. Then measure that paper strip with a ruler. That would be the circumference of your hand.

STEP 3: Compare your hand circumference to the chart below. Purchase a bangle with diameter that is the next size up from your actual hand measurement. Refer to the appropriate measurements in below  bangle chart

Tip: Do you want a snug or loose fit? Well, that really will vary between each individual. If you are buying a delicate bracelet with a thin chain, we suggest doing a snug fit. Most other bracelets should have a comfort fit except when buying large or thick cuffs or bangles. It's best to buy large bracelets with a loose fit so you don’t feel like you are suffocating your wrist.

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