This ring will be hallmarked by Birmingham Assay office so as to give you peace of mind on the gold purity. This is in accordance with legal requirement of Hallmarking Act 1973 which demands any jewellery sold in UK to be hallmarked at one of the 4 Assay offices in UK at Birmingham, London, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

What is a Hallmark?
In the UK a Hallmark consists of three COMPULSORY MARKS which give you the following information:

• who made the article
• what is its guaranteed standard of fineness
• the Assay Office at which the article was tested and marked

For example:

AB Sponsor or maker	750 Standard	Anchor Assay Office

Q. Why is hallmarking necessary?
a. The purpose of Hallmarking is to protect the public against fraud and other traders against unfair competition. It represents one of the earliest forms of consumer protection.
Gold and silver have through the centuries been alloyed with other metals, because in their pure state they are too soft to make jewellery, tableware etc. The precious metal must be mixed with other elements to give it the necessary properties such as flexibility to produce a desirable and durable article.
 However, it is impossible to tell by eye alone how much of the cheaper base metals have been used in the hardening process. Even gold plating, a few microns thick, looks like solid gold when new. Even the most experienced jeweller or chemist cannot tell how much precious metal there is in an alloy, just by looking at it, nor whether a thick plating of gold is covering a base metal interior.

The high price of precious metals tempts the dishonest to use substandard alloys, thus increasing their profits. The fraud is very difficult to detect, those who suffer from it are both the honest manufacturer competing against the less scrupulous, or of course the final purchaser of the goods.

There has always been a need to protect the public, and honest suppliers, from those who are tempted to cheat them. Therefore all items being sold as gold, silver or platinum in the UK must be hallmarked to confirm that they meet the legal standard. This cannot be done by the manufacturer or importer; goods must be submitted to one of the four UK Assay Offices, or an Assay Office belonging to the International Convention

Q. Where do you get them all hallmarked?
A. There are now 4 British Assay Offices (Birmingham, London, Sheffield and Edinburgh). According to Hallmarking Act 1973, all the jewellery sold in UK is to be hallmarked at one of the above 4 offices. Diamond Heaven gets all their jewellery hallmarked at Birmingham Assay office

Overseas hallmarking is not valid in UK and it leaves the buyer exposed to fraud. In fact protection against such frauds is one of the very reason why the above act was introduced.
For more information on hallmarking -
http://www.britishhallmarkingcouncil.gov.uk/hlaw.htm
www.theassayoffice.co.uk