Assay Supervision

Assay Supervision

 

the state control of jewelry and domestic goods made of precious metals—gold, silver, platinum, and palladium—to assure compliance with the legal standards of fineness. Through state control, the sale of articles made from base metals or metals of inferior quality as noble and standard metals is disallowed. Hallmark forgery on articles is also eliminated.

State-controlled assay supervision is mandatory in most countries. It is also mandatory that assay offices hallmark all articles made from noble metals. In the USSR, assay supervision is carried out by inspection offices of the Ministry of Finances of the USSR.