The Maker’s Mark « Fire & Hammers

The Maker’s Mark

16Jun09

It’s a question of quality, nothing less – but a little more. Having my own personal hallmark is very important to me.

My hallmark

The reasons are simple. The Assay Office in the UK marks a piece of precious metal to show it has been tested (or assayed), and that it meets a given standard. That’s a legal mark of quality – in the case above, that the metal is Sterling silver (“925″). The other parts of the hallmark are that of the issuing office, of the maker or manufacturer (or the importer, but there’s none of that here), and the year in which the piece was tested and marked.

The choice of my hallmark, and of Birmingham Assay Office, are personal issues.

My maker’s mark is my initials, plain and simple. That’s MY mark of quality – if it has this mark, it was made by me, and I am responsible for the quality of the workmanship and the design of the piece.

I chose Birmingham for a number of reasons: I went to university there, and lived there for eight years. I still have friends who live there, and every time I visit it feels like going home.

But there’s an additional factor in my choice of Birmingham: as a graduate archaeologist, I spent a summer working at the Black Country Museum as a volunteer. One of my duties was to write a brochure for the opening ceremony of their Anchor Forge. In the process I learned a lot about anchors, and the history of Birmingham & the Black Country, and metalbashing. (They had a one-ton steam hammer; the steam for the hammer was raised by the furnace where the iron was heated to red-hot…)

The mark of Birmingham Assay Office is an anchor.

Thus, my maker’s mark takes a little part of my story with it – a little part of me – with every piece I make.