The workshop is always very busy this time of year, today I've been sorting some jewelry to go for hallmarking. By law, in Ireland every piece of precious metal jewelry must be sent to Dublin castle to be hallmarked. Here they test the metal and then stamp the mark of the Irish Assay office on each piece. I stamp each piece with my makers mark before sending it to the hallmarking office in Dublin.
My makers mark is made up of my initials 'EM'. When the metal has been tested they will add the remaining marks which make up a full Irish hallmark. Above is a picture of the tools I use when stamping my makers mark. I use the doming block for curved pieces like the Ogham cufflinks so I can sit them into the block while hammering. My makers punch has a little bend on it which is so it can reach when stamping the inside of a ring.
Here you can see how I use the doming block to support curved cufflinks while I stamp my makers mark. If you want to read more about Irish Hallmarking click here.