What company has stood the test of time?
In the UK, one cannot sell gold jewellery without it having been hallmarked by the Goldsmiths Company. Its formal name is The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, and it is among the twelve great livery companies of the City of London
When I was building a fine jewellery startup, I had a business related reason to visit the office often as I used to ferry our jewellery back and forth to be hallmarked and to collect it afterwards.
The business contact we had had worked in the Goldsmiths’ Company for forty years. His business card, on the obverse, said: “Since 1327”.
The Goldsmiths’ Company received its royal charter in 1327 and nobody – from Boodles to Van Cleef & Arpels – can sell their fine and high jewellery in the UK without the jewellery visiting this building.
Fun fact: The Goldsmiths’ Hall hosts several exhibitions for the fine jewellery trade and its official address is Gutter Lane. It has been there since 1339.
Every single time I visited the building I was reminded of another London great’s words: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Boy, do those people working in this building at Gutter Lane look at stars and scintillating jewels all day!
These words are also carved on a public sculpture near Charing Cross station in London, commemorating the man, who said those words – Oscar Wilde.
To come back from the mini segue, the Goldsmiths’ Company has indeed stood the test of time, as has the human desire for adornment.
