• A new commemorative mark has been designed to celebrate the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III
• The King’s Coronation Mark can be requested from 1 March 2023 and will be available until 31 December 2024
• Historically, commemorative marks have been added to the regular hallmark to signify a special event
• The mark depicts the King’s head against an oval background

An announcement from the British Hallmarking Council:

To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III a commemorative hallmark has been approved. 

Based on a medal by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS and using artwork supplied by Thomas Fattorini, the mark depicts the King’s head against an oval background.  It can be applied to gold, silver, platinum or palladium items, by any of the four UK assay offices.  The approval process involved the assay offices considering a selection of possible designs and submitting two to the British Hallmarking Council which chose the design depicting the King’s head. 

The King’s Coronation Mark will be an optional mark.  Punches will be available in sizes 1mm to 6mm and the minimum size will be 1mm for punches, and 0.75mm for laser.  The King’s Coronation Mark can be placed anywhere viable on the item being hallmarked, not necessarily next to the statutory hallmark, and can differ in size from the compulsory component marks.  It can be made as large as is practically possible on the item being submitted. The level of detail is a lot so on smaller sizes the detail will be harder to see.

The King’s Coronation Mark can be used with or without the current Date Letter mark. 

The cost of applying the mark in a standard size will be £1, in addition to the standard hallmarking charges.

The King’s Coronation Mark

Commemorative hallmarks have proved popular with UK consumers. Most recently, before the greatly mourned death of Queen Elizabeth II, a Platinum Jubilee mark in 2022 proved popular with UK consumers.  This followed a distinguished history of jubilee hallmarks going back to 1934, and a previous coronation hallmark for Queen Elizabeth II.

A spokesperson for the Assay Offices of the UK said “The UK Assay Offices have a long tradition of capturing special events with the creation of commemorative hallmarks.  The special mark provides an additional narrative for products carrying the mark.  Equally importantly, it brings the importance of the hallmark into focus with the jewellery-buying consumer.”

Jewellers, silversmiths and retailers can request the mark from their assay office from 1 March 2023 until the end of 2024.  The commemorative mark can be applied with or without the current date letter mark.  The addition of the commemorative mark will cost £1 for each article on which it is struck as standard, over and above the standard hallmarking charges.  Laser and feature commemorative marks may be subject to additional charges. 

The mark depicts the King’s head against an oval background - as shown here struck into aluminium during our test process

The skill of our engineers has been pivotal in realising this important moment. Their decades of precision engineering experience and attention to microscopic detail has led to the creation of some truly beautiful metal punches

Will Evans, General Manager of The London Assay Office said, “The London Assay Office is proud to offer this historic mark to jewellers and silversmiths until the end of 2024. The skill of our engineers has been pivotal in realising this important moment. Their decades of precision engineering experience and attention to microscopic detail has led to the creation of some truly beautiful metal punches and digital artwork for laser application. Seeing a London hallmark reach the end-consumer is always significant, and no more so than when it incorporates a commemorative mark to signify a key moment in national life.”