| Birmingham Assay Office(Since 2015) | |
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 Interactive map of the Birmingham Assay Office(Since 2015) area | |
| General information | |
| Type | Assay Office |
| Location | 1 Moreton Street,Birmingham,England |
| Coordinates | 52°29′11″N1°55′03″W / 52.4864°N 1.9176°W /52.4864; -1.9176 |
| Completed | 2015 |
| Opened | 27 July 2015 |
| Website | |
| https://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/ | |
TheBirmingham Assay Office, one of the fourassay offices in theUnited Kingdom, is located in theJewellery Quarter,Birmingham. The development of a silver industry in 18th centuryBirmingham was hampered by the legal requirement that items of solid silver be assayed, and the nearest Assay Offices were inChester andLondon.[1]Matthew Boulton and Birmingham's other great industrialists joined forces with silversmiths ofSheffield to petitionParliament for the establishment of assay offices in their respective cities. In spite of determined opposition by London silversmiths, anact of Parliament, thePlate Assay (Sheffield and Birmingham) Act 1772 (13 Geo. 3. c. 52), was passed in March 1773, just one month after the original petition was presented to Parliament, to allow Birmingham and Sheffield the right toassay silver.[1] The Birmingham Assay Office opened on 31 August 1773 and initially operated from three rooms in the King's Head Inn onNew Street employing only four staff and was only operating on a Tuesday. The first customer on that day was Matthew Boulton.[2]
The Birmingham Assay Office is managed by a board of 36 "Guardians of the Standard of Wrought Plate in Birmingham", between six and nine of whom must be connected with the trade.[3]
Thehallmark of the Birmingham Assay Office is theAnchor, and that of theSheffield Assay Office was theCrown. A story about the origins of this hallmark goes that meetings prior to the inauguration of both Birmingham and Sheffield assay offices in 1773 were held at a public house called theCrown and Anchor Tavern on theStrand, London. It is said that the choice of symbol was made on the toss of a coin which resulted in Birmingham adopting the Anchor and Sheffield the Crown (which was changed in 1977 to theWhite Rose of York).[2]
Services provided by the office include Hallmarking, Nickel Testing, Metal Analysis, Plating Thickness determination, Bullion Certification, consultancy and Gem Certification. A full list of products and services can be foundhere, on their website.
| Birmingham Assay Office (1877–2015) | |
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 Interactive map of the Birmingham Assay Office (1877–2015) area | |
| General information | |
| Type | Assay Office |
| Architectural style | Victorian Italianate |
| Location | Newhall Street,Birmingham,England |
| Coordinates | 52°29′02″N1°54′22″W / 52.48389°N 1.90611°W /52.48389; -1.90611 |
| Completed | 1877 (Phipson), 1890, 1899, 1907, 1914 (Ewen Harper, architect), 1974 |
| Relocated | 27 July 2015 |
| Owner | TCN UK |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Andrew Phipson |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Designated | 25 September 1972 |
| Reference no. | 1076142 |
The Assay Office started in 1773 at leased rooms in the Kings Head Inn onNew Street. It moved to Bull Lane in 1782, to Little Colmore Street in 1799 and then to Little Cannon Street in 1815 until its purpose-built site onNewhall Street (52°29′02″N1°54′22″W / 52.4839°N 1.9062°W /52.4839; -1.9062 (Old Assay Office)) was built in 1877, where it became the largest assay office inEurope, hallmarking 13 million articles in 2003 and claiming to be the largest in the world.[2] The Newhall Street building islisted as Grade II.[4] In 2016, the Assay Office relocated to its new premises at 1 Moreton Street, Birmingham.
Due to lack of capacity in itsNewhall Street building, it was decided that a new Assay Office would be needed. A site on the western edge of theJewellery Quarter was chosen and planning permission was secured in December 2012, and construction started in May 2014, for a scheduled completion in 2015. The construction was project managed by Trebor Developments withGalliford Try as principal contractor, O'Brien as sub-contractors and Glazzard Architects as architects.
The new building cost £10 million to construct. This 5,000 sq ft two-storeyblue brick building on Moreton Street (52°29′11″N1°55′03″W / 52.4864°N 1.9176°W /52.4864; -1.9176 (New Assay Office)) provides modern offices, laboratories and conference facilities.[5] The Assay Office moved into the new building on 27 July 2015.[6]
The design of the new building incorporates special "feature bricks" which bear the key hallmarking symbols used during the Assay Office's 240-year history. These include the traditional hallmarking symbols; a lion for Sterling Silver, crown for Gold, orb for Platinum and Pallas Athene for Palladium. The Birmingham town mark, the anchor, also features prominently.
There are also a dozen which feature the sponsors' marks of some of its most significant customers. In recognition of the honour, these customers contributed £12,000 to charity. The full list of companies featured is:Thomas Fattorini, R. Platnauer,Toye, Kenning & Spencer,Cooksongold, Deakin & Francis, BJA (British Jewellers' Association, now National Association of Jewellers),F. Hinds, Charles Green, Hockley Mint, Weston Beamor, Jewellery Brokers and Martyn Pugh.[7]
The building includes a private museum, known as the Silver Collection. The former building onNewhall Street was converted into the "Assay Studios" a creative office space and innovation hub in November 2016.
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