With only a few weeks to go until the Assay Office begins the move to its new home on the other side of the Jewellery Quarter, ex-employees and current staff recently invited their families and friends to come and visit the current Assay Office in Newhall Street.

The building was purpose built in 1877 but has steadily been redeveloped and expanded to create the maze of rooms, corridors and two staircases which comprise the Assay Office now.

Visitors were impressed by the Victorian splendour of the original main staircase, still complete with its original tiles and radiators and the private Library and Silver Collection which includes rare and valuable articles and books, some of which predate the founding of the Assay Office in Birmingham in 1773.

However, of course the most interesting feature for all visitors were the working demonstrations on the Hallmarking floor where Assayer Diana Donnelley, Hand Marker Faye Grove and Hallmarking Supervisor Rose Nightingale were demonstrating and explaining their daily work.

As ever, they made an incredibly detailed and skilful task look ridiculously easy.

Visitors were able to try their hand at striking a hallmark onto an aluminium sheet to get a sense of the expertise required to punch a tiny mark into a finished object to the right depths and in the right place.

Meanwhile in the Laser Room, Suki Singh was showcasing work from the other end of the technical spectrum as he lasered hallmarks onto curved hollow pieces which would crumple under the wright of a hammer blow. All impressive stuff.

For those ex-staff who left the Office a few years ago, the new operating divisions were a revelation. The assaying area has developed into a full blown AnchorCert Analytical laboratory with hi-tech kit lining it's walls and countless rows of flasks full of solutions lined up ready for further analysis. Where they once enjoyed a “home cooked” lunch now the latest gemmological equipment and valuers’ paraphernalia was lined up on desks under the watchful banks of CCTV cameras in the AnchorCert Gem Lab. And most surprising of all in the old “Smoking Room” where once the visibility was seriously impaired by cigarette smoke, now flashy state of the art equipment can analyse potentially harmful substances such as azo-dyes in leather and textiles.

However, of course the one thing that had not changed was the people. The building buzzed with nostalgic memories and a sense of belonging  throughout the morning and some of its longest serving staff, some of whom have over 50 years' service  were delighted to share their stories with current staff and their guests.

Everyone is looking forward to the next Open Day which will of course be in the new building in Moreton Street.

For a chance to win a place on a “Hidden Spaces” visit to the Assay Office on Tuesday 2^nd June CLICK HERE.

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