Celebrating 250 years of the Birmingham Assay Office, they stand proud of their rich history and the remarkable milestones they have achieved. This momentous occasion is testament to their enduring commitment to adapt, evolve, and thrive in an everchanging business landscape to support their customers and the trade with expert technical knowledge, quality, and trust. To connect with this, Birmingham Assay Office are celebrating throughout this year with employees, customers, the local community, and trade.
Birmingham Assay Office have commissioned a local Silversmith, L J Millington to craft a Commemorative Piece to celebrate this important milestone. L J Millington is a Jewellery Quarter based family-owned business, established in 1968. L J Millington employs highly skilled craftsmen who between them have over 200 years of experience in the Silversmithing Trade.
To create the perfect piece, L J Millington has collaborated with R F Bevan & Co Ltd, a precision engineering specialist based in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter.
The unique piece, constructed in Sterling Silver, will form part of the historical Silver Collection at the Birmingham Assay Office, collectively representing 250 years of history.
The piece has been designed to reflect the 250th Logo, created by Caitlin Beale, a student at Birmingham City University. Caitlin’s design celebrates the story of how Birmingham came to have the Anchor as its town mark while recognizing the strong historical connection between the Birmingham Assay Office and the Sheffield Assay Office, whose original town mark was a crown, also founded in 1773.
The creativity of this logo has been designed and skilfully crafted by L J Millington into a stunning Candelabra.
To connect with what is happening today with the evolution of laboratory-grown diamonds, and to add some sparkle to the piece, Birmingham Assay Office have been privileged to work with SkyDiamond located in Gloucestershire, England. SkyDiamond have their unique, cutting-edge, and innovative approach to removing excess carbon from the atmosphere and transforming this into a diamond.
The diamond selected is 1.17 carat in weight and has its own expertly laser engraved certificate number on the girdle sitting as the central feature on this piece in collaboration with Davran Jewellery Ltd, a local jewellery manufacturer and highly skilled Diamond Setter, to position it just perfectly.
During Heritage week, Birmingham Assay Office in conjunction with businesses from across Birmingham hosted an event which was attended by over 100 guests during which their CEO Doug Henry and Henry Deakin, Director of Deakin & Francis, unveiled the beautiful Commemorative Piece.
In addition to this celebration, Birmingham Assay Office have been supporting their chosen charities, Midlands Air Ambulance, and the Benevolent Society, which connected the launch of the 250th Logo in April 2023. The logo can be applied during the hallmarking process for a small additional charge of £1 per item, with all proceeds being donated the nominated charities.
