EDITOR’S LETTER
CONTRIBUTORS
Clarity at last
CONTRIBUTORS
JOHN
LANGFORD
John is the director
of Braybrook and
Britten, a mail
order jewellers and
silversmiths and
has been involved
in the business for
20 years
KATHERINE
ALEXANDRA
BRUNACCI
A jewellery designer
and gemologist
who launched her
first collection in
2010 shortly after
completing her
Master of Fine
Arts degree at
RMIT University in
Melbourne, Australia.
JANET FITCH
Janet is a veteran
JF columnist, and
has written for
both magazines
and newspapers
including the Sun
and the Daily Mail,
later owning her
own jewellery
shops
LEONARD ZELL
Leonard has
been training fine
jewellers for 25
years. His monthly
column gives
some top tips on
sales training and
improving your
bottom line
ON THE
COVER
June 2018
www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk
£5.95 | ISSN 2046-7265
It was about two years ago that I first began to
recognise how passionate the two sides were on
the debate about whether hallmarks, if struck
in overseas outposts of UK assay offices, should
have a specialised mark denoting just that. On
the one hand, there were those who felt that
any differentiation at all was unnecessary and
that those who championed it were driven by
bigotry and prejudice. On the other hand, those who denied prejudice
and said British hallmarks essentially amounted to a ‘Made in Britain’
mark and that allowing them to be used overseas would erode consumer
confidence or at least confuse their perception of what hallmarking
means. I report these positions to you from conversations I had
personally with well-known names in the jewellery world, but whose
anonymity I will protect now that the dust has settled.
Why has it settled? Because in recent weeks the British Hallmarking
Council announced that marks struck in the British assay offices’
overseas facilities must carry a distinguishing mark to communicate
this information to the trade and the consumer. What is notable about
the decision and those who made it is their caginess on the subject. In
researching our piece this month to explore the decision and what it
means, we could not persuade a single assay master (and there are four)
to participate in an individual, on-the-record interview. At first, we were
astonished – the four most authoritative voices on the matter from a
trade perspective refusing to take questions from the trade press raised
more questions than we had originally drafted for them. However, with
the help of some background comments that I will not print, I was
persuaded that the integrity of the British hallmark’s reputation can
only be preserved if the assay offices present a unified voice. Even if
that voice came not from the assay offices, but from Noel Hunter at the
British Hallmarking Council.
Whilst the statute does not designate hallmarking as being any
indication of ‘Britishness’ – all imported jewellery sold legally in the
UK bears it wherever it has come from – it is nonetheless synonymous
with the British way, and that is a marketable quality that must be
protected. In a way, it was this synonymy that made the original debate
so intractable. What if the hallmark has indeed come to mean ‘Made in
Britain’ for the consumer? It’s interesting to ponder on, but ultimately
now just academic. We have our instructions, and as a trade must now
move onto the next challenge.
I hope you enjoy the issue.
KUNDAN
JEWELLERY
Could the UK and western
markets save this traditional
jewellery from dying out?
OVERSEAS
HALLMARKING
TALKING POINT
We explore the implications of the recent
overseas hallmarking announcement
18
Kundan jewellery page 28
We ask you how consumers’ attitudes
to jewellery change in the summer
35
42
JANET FITCH LEONARD ZELL YOUR VIEWS
Our columnist’s take on the
month’s jewellery trends How to use trigger words when
making a sale We sit down with Phil Barnes
of Muru Jewellery
June 2018 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk
MICHAEL NORTHCOTT
Editor, Jewellery Focus
[email protected]
JEWELLERY FOCUS
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