in article , Abrasha at
wrote on 31/7/03 3:01 am:

"H. J. Corney" wrote:


So perhaps if you could educate and convince your customers of the
guarantees offered by an independent UK assay and hallmark you would have an
edge over your competition.

How so? What about the added cost of shipping the work to the UK and back and
having to clear customs twice, just to get a foreign assay and hallmark?

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Hiya - I thought I would hear from you soon enough with this thread Abrasha
:-)

You would not send a single item unless it was high value it would not be
worth it. You would send a whole batch of unfinished castings probably still
with the stub of the sprue attached because the Assay office can use the
site of the sprue to sample the metal.

So the cost of postage would be spread across say one hundred items. I don't
know how much postage from the States to the UK and back is. But insured
postage from the UK to the US and back together with the cost of the Assay
would add less than a dollar per ring if you sent enough items at one go.

I don't know about American customs duty but I don't think any charges would
be made for Items that are to be re-imported.

The real question is would the average American jewellery buyer appreciate,
and pay extra, for the fact that the item had been independently tested by
an organisation with 700 years experience.

A GIA Certificate adds to the saleability of a Diamond so why shouldn't a
Hallmark add to the saleability of a ring?

Its funny I thought I would be challenged on the UK newspapers assertion
that 60% of the jewellery they tested in the US was of substandard precious
metal quality.

If that really is true then I would have thought that US jewellery customers
would be delighted to be able to buy an item which carries a hallmark.

Best wishes

Hillary