After a flat January, escalating precious metal prices inevitably took their toll and the number of articles hallmarked in the UK in the first quarter dropped to 4.2m. 16.5% down on 2007. 9ct gold accounted for most of the decline, losing nearly 800,000 articles, a 29.6% drop.
Platinum, now sitting at over £1000 per oz, was hit hard down 20.6% and the only strong sector was silver which continues to increase and was up 5.7%. Silver accounted for 42% of all items hallmarked versus 33% last year.
