Gold hallmarking falls 17.4% in January

The latest hallmarking figures from the Birmingham Assay Office show that 17.4% less gold items were hallmarked in January this year compared with the same month last year.

Silver and platinum hallmarking also dipped year on year in January. The number of silver items hallmarked fell 3.2% and platinum items fell 5.4%.

The total number of items hallmarked in January fell 7.5% compared with January 2009.