GENEAL INFORMATION
ホールマーク（刻印）
British Hallmark
MAIKO NAGAYAMA is registered with UK Goldsmiths' Company Assay office in London for our articles for hallmarking. The Goldsmiths' Company have a great reputation for excellence which has been built since 1300 and has a history of expertise for over 700 years. Precious metals are rarely used in their purest form but are usually accompanied with other metals for workability, durability, and wearability. It is not possible to detect an article's precious metal content by sight or touch. Therefore it is a legal requirement for an Assay office to hallmark articles containing precious metals if they are described as such. Hallmarks are marks applied by striking with a punch - they can now also be applied using lasers. There are four Assay offices in the UK, in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh. They are private companies but are overseen by the British Hallmarking Council. The oldest Assay office work from royal charters (London and Edinburgh). A hallmarks consist of a series of marks applied to articles of the precious metals platinum, gold, palladium and silver. It means that the article has been independently tested and guarantees that it conforms to all legal standards of purity and fineness. It also guarantees provenance by telling us, as a minimum legal requirement, where the piece was hallmarked, what the article is made from, and who sent the article for hallmarking. The Full Traditional Hallmark comprises five marks:
1. Sponsor's Mark
2. Traditional Fineness Mark
3. Millesimal Fineness Mark
4. Assay Office Mark
5. Date Leter Mark
The sponsor's Mark (Maker's Mark) is the registered mark of the company that submitted the article for hallmarking. It is formed of initials of the company, (MAIKO NAGAYAMA - MN) inside a shield shape. The shield shape varies, and a minimum of two initials must be included at the UK Assay Office. MAIKO NAGAYAMA's maker's mark is MN inside of the shield which looks like a flag shape. All of the MAIKO NAGAYAMA Haute Couture pieces comprise the full traditional hallmark.
