Peter Taylor MBE, Director of the Goldsmiths’ Centre in London, has announced that he will retire in February 2026, marking the culmination of a distinguished 37-year career in the trade. Over the last 24 years he has served both the Goldsmiths’ Company and the Goldsmiths’ Centre - first as the Company’s inaugural Director of Technology and Training, and since 2011 as the founding Director of the Goldsmiths’ Centre.

“One year in, our Landmark Programme has reached 1,601 people across prisons, schools, and communities. From young jewellers finding their passion in Birmingham to children discovering their voice through writing in Bradford, we’re seeing the power of skills development to unlock potential and shows people what’s possible. This is just the beginning.”

Over the last seven centuries, the City of London, the Goldsmiths’ Company, and the Trade have evolved, yet, as we approach our 700th year, our purpose remains the same – we test and assure the quality of precious metals and the nation’s coinage, we provide education, training and mentorship to the next generation of master craftspeople, and we are helping to advance creative, technical, and vocational skills in the craft and trade of goldsmithing, silversmithing and jewellery, and the wider creative industries. Take a look at what we’ve achieved in the last year.

The Goldsmiths’ Company and the National Saturday Club are excited to announce a three-year partnership aimed at ensuring more young people across the UK have free access to vital creative education. As headline subject partner of the Art&Design programme, the Goldsmiths’ Company will play a key role in supporting the next generation of creatives. This year, the Art&Design programme has enabled over 1,000 young people to explore more than 200 creative disciplines at free Saturday Clubs in 49 locations across the UK. 

The Betts Group, which has provided quality and service from the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter for more than 260 years, has partnered with Goldsmiths’ Fair, supporting the recipients of its 2025 Emerging Business Bursary programme with a gift of four kilograms of AgAIN silver bullion, which is made from silver reclaimed from medical X-ray films.

Every autumn, Goldsmiths’ Fair brings together a curated selection of the UK’s best contemporary jewellers and silversmiths.

Birmingham has officially been recognised as a World Craft City - making it one of just eight in Europe to receive the prestigious designation from the World Crafts Council. This signifies a landmark moment for Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, placing the city’s historic Jewellery Quarter - home to an internationally renowned community of jewellers, makers and creative businesses - firmly on the global stage

The Goldsmiths’ Company is delighted to announce that Brigadier Ed Butler CBE DSO has taken office as Prime Warden, in succession to Richard Reid. Now a highly respected specialist in strategic risk and resilience, Ed spent 24 years serving in the British Army, achieving his career ambition at the age of 38 when he took command of 22 SAS (the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment).

The King’s Remembrancer, Senior Master Cook of the Kings’ Bench Division of the High Court, has today pronounced a positive verdict on the 6,432 coins submitted in February by The Royal Mint at the Trial of the Pyx – one of the United Kingdom’s oldest judicial processes.

Heritage Crafts has announced today (Tuesday 13 May 2025) that the silver allied trades have been added to its Red List of Endangered Crafts for the first time – the bi-annual report listing traditional craft skills in the UK at risk of disappearing.

Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is gearing up to host an exciting global panel of experts from the World Craft Council as it enters the final stages of its bid for World Craft City status.

The UK government has announced (17 March 2025) that it will “commence a review into the British Hallmarking Council (BHC) which will look at the role, remit and governance of the BHC.

The Goldsmiths’ Foundation has appointed a new Board of Trustees to lead the charity as it renews its focus on support for vocational skills, the crafts of jewellery and silversmithing, and the wider creative industries.

The Royal Mint has today submitted 6,432 coins for testing at the UK’s oldest judicial ceremony, the Trial of the Pyx, at Goldsmiths’ Hall in the City of London.

A highlight of this year’s submission is a silver sixpence made from silver recovered from expired medical and industrial x-ray films.

Learn about our refreshed visual identity, created to convey the spirit of the Goldsmith’s Company and our craft and trade as we approach our 700th anniversary.

Former Prime Warden of The Goldsmiths’ Company Dr. Timothy Schroder remembers Dame Rosalind Savill 1951-2024. Director of the Wallace Collection from 1992 to 2011, specialist on 18th-century Sèvres porcelain, and “perhaps the best Prime Warden we never had”.

“To walk around Goldsmiths’ Hall is to be stalked by leopards” - Head of the Goldsmiths’ Company’ Library and Archives, Eleni Bide, explores the story behind our ever present feline friend, which has been a symbol of the Company and of the London Assay Office for almost 700 years.

The Trial of The Pyx has taken place at Goldsmiths’ Hall, in the City of London since 1871, and in 2025 we are giving a limited number of people the unique opportunity to experience a judicial ceremony which is as important today as it was in 1248!

Over the last 189 years Goldsmiths’ Hall has seen many splendid celebrations, fantastic dinners, informative lectures, spectacular exhibitions, fabulous fairs, exhilarating film shoots and an untold number of very important visitors, including actors, celebrities, politicians, members of the Royal Family, and now you!

For the 2025 Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council (GC&DC) Awards, The London Assay Office is challenging entrants to submit a 2D design for a sterling silver (925) spoon which proudly bears the London Hallmark, and can be used as a personal, practical and portable piece of cutlery for every meal “from porridge to pudding”.