Assay Office Birmingham News

Cadmium Cadmium has long been recognised as a toxin and a known carcinogen, harmful when it is ingested or inhaled.  As a result of its harmful qualities, The EU extended the restrictions on Cadmium in the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Directive in December 2011.  The regulation restricts cadmium content in jewellery to 0.01% (100 mg/kg) by weight of metal and this applies to “metal beads and other metal jewellery components,…

Birmingham’s past and present as a world leader in design and engineering has been celebrated in a service dedicating a memorial to industrial revolution pioneer Matthew Boulton  - founder of Assay Office Birmingham - at Westminster Abbey. Matthew Boulton was born in Birmingham in September 1728, the son of a buckle and button maker. In 1760 he began building the Soho Manufactory in Handsworth. Jewellery, silverware and coins from his workshops were exported across the world. He…

Members of staff from Assay Office Birmingham recently attended the Quarter Lifestyle Event, which took place at University College Birmingham. Marion Wilson (Sales and Marketing Director), Marie Brennan (Business Development Manager), Kathy McMillen (Hallmarking Operations Director) and Carla Goodfellow (AnchorCert and SafeGuard Director) met a wide range of established and upcoming businesses who are based within the Jewellery Quarter. The event proved to be a good opportunity f…

Once again, this year's NPA Conference proved to be another great event for staff at Assay Office Birmingham and for all pawnbrokers who attended. Chief Executive and Assay Master of Assay Office Birmingham,Stella Layton also gave a very well received presentation at the Conference.  Stella gave an update on gold and other precious metals and an overview of the current jewellery market. Assay Office Birmingham also supported the NPA awards and sponsored the Employer of the Year aw…