Event - Cutlers’ Hall opens to reveal treasures (Sheffield)

The Cutlers’ Hall is throwing open its doors to give Sheffield people an insight into the wealth of treasures it contains and the history of the 388 year old Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire.

Master Cutler Pam Liversidge said: “The Cutlers’ Hall is a very important part of the city’s heritage yet there are people who have lived here all their lives and have never visited it.

“Sadly, there are some who do not even know of its existence. Now we hope to change that and encourage everyone to take pride in the history of Sheffield.”

The free open day takes place on Wednesday, February 15, during half term, so that children get a chance to see the Hall and its collections and Cutlers’ Company staff will be on hand to answer any questions.

The Company, which was established by an Act of Parliament in 1624 to oversee the production of cutlery in the area and these days acts as a spokesman for the region’s manufacturing industries, is also arranging for wheelchair access and setting up a temporary café to provide refreshments on the day.

There has been a Cutlers’ Hall on the present site since 1638. The current Hall was built in 1832 at a total cost of £8,066 and was then extended in the 1880s.

It has long been used for events and activities. Many people living in South Yorkshire today have attended lunches, dinners and dances there as well as business meetings and may even have sat exams there at one stage of their career, but this is the first Heritage Day. Features include panelling and lighting from Titanic’s sister ship, the Olympic, an overmantel, table and chests in the Master’s room that date from the 17th century and a silver collection of some 900 items to which a new piece, hallmarked in Sheffield is added every year. Some of this silver can be viewed in the Muniment room, which also houses the Norfolk Knife - a work of art designed to display the cutlers’ skills that was made for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and examples of the first stainless steel cutlery ever made, after Harry Brearley discovered how to produce the material.

 

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/business/cutlers_hall_opens_to_reveal_treasures_1_4176388

News - Hallmarks saved

A GOVERNMENT decision to retain one of the oldest forms of consumer protection has received a strong welcome in Sheffield.

The future of hallmarking, which guarantee the purity of precious metals and products made from them, was called into doubt as part of the Government’s Red Tape Challenge review of retail regulation.

Suggestions that the system, run by the UK’s historic Assay Offices, could go, provoked a storm of comment on the Red Tape Challenge web site.

Almost 5,900 people sent comments to the website on hallmarking – the vast majority in favour of retaining the regulations.

That was more than double the next most important issue for the public, Sunday trading.

Ashley Carson, Assay Master at Sheffield Assay Office, had described the threat to hallmarking as “bizarre.”

He also warned that Britain could end up in the same state as the US, where six out of 10 items tested by the Jewellers Vigilance Association failed to reach the standards claimed for them.

Speaking after it was announced that hallmarking would stay, Mr Carson said: “I would like to thank everyone who made a comment on the Red Tape Challenge Website and it is great to see that the oldest form of consumer protection will remain unchanged.”

This firm scales the heights of success on an almost daily basis, and then it comes back down again.

Find out how Sheffield guiding firm Jagged Globe keeps climbers coming back for more in Business Monthly on Wednesday.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/business/hallmarks_saved_1_3634952

News - 700 years of hallmarking history could go in red tape bonfire (Sheffield)

All gold, silver, platinum and palladium sold in Britain – whether made in the country or imported – must carry a hallmark, a tiny stamp that proves it is contains the correct amount of the precious metal and giving details of its manufacturer and the date it was made. 

The symbols are crucial guide for antique dealers and thousands of amateur collectors, who can find out whether their supposed priceless Georgian coffee pot is the genuine article or a modern replica.

However, hallmarking and the hundreds "assayers" – the independent experts who authenticate and test the metals – could potentially be scrapped as part of a Government scheme to axe as much red-tape as possible. No longer will the experts on the Antiques Roadshow be able to get out their magnifying glass to discover, from the symbols alone, that someone's battered silver salver is a museum piece. 

The Department for Business insisted it is merely seeking views from people about what rules and regulations on Britain's statue book are useful, and which can be culled as part of its Red Tape Challenge, adding that no formal consultation had even started. 

But hallmarking is highlighted as one of the first areas to be examined for simplification and one of the questions in the section says: "Should they be scrapped altogether?". Jewellery makers up and down the country as well as assay offices have expressed horror that such ancient legislation, which has inspired countless amateur antique collectors as well as protected consumers from fraud, is even being considered for the scrap-heap. 

Michael Allchin, the chief executive the Birmingham Assay Office, the biggest of the country's four centres of authentication which stamps 13 million items of gold in a busy year, said: "Hallmarking is paid for by the industry. It's not civil servants doing the job, we're not a burden on the taxpayer. 

"A hallmark is essential for consumers to make sure they are not ripped off. If your wedding ring says 750 that means it is 750 per 1000 parts pure gold, or 18 carat. No more no less." 

He added that it was more important than ever before, with gold at a record price and more people interested in the investment value – and the resale value – to ensure consumers had confidence in the market.

Barry Stevenson, the chief executive of pawnbroker Albemarle Bond, said: "While those in the jewellery industry have sophisticated methods of testing metals, including acid scratch tests, the general public depends on hallmarks, and scrapping them could prove disastrous by creating extra confusion around what is and isn't precious metal. 

"The company is concerned that any move that produces confusion about precious metals could create a market for unscrupulous buyers and sellers of jewellery who wish to mislead consumers on the value of items or pass off non-precious jewellery as the real thing." 

Hallmarking has been on the statute book since 1300, with the Company of Goldsmiths given a charter in 1327 to assay silver and gold. The metal was weighed and stamped at its offices at Goldsmiths' Hall, giving rise to the term hallmark. There are four assay offices: London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh, each with their own distinctive symbols, with London marking with a leopard's head, for instance and Birmingham using the anchor. 

A Department for Business spokesman said that they were not picking on hallmarking, it was just one of the 21,895 statuary instruments and the Government was determined to trim some. 

He added: "The Red tape challenge campaign is a powerful new tool for the public to have their say about the red tape that they deal with every day. 

"We want the public to tell us what they think about the more than 21,000 regulations that are on the statute book. Some of these regulations will be vital to protect consumers or employees, but others will be badly enforced or just plain obsolete; putting an unnecessary burden on the businesses that should be focusing on growing their businesses. 

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8461320/700-years-of-hallmarking-history-could-go-in-red-tape-bonfire.html