Although traditionally all silver jewellery has been stamped with the hallmark, using a traditional 'punch' style stamp, increasingly, jewellery is being hallmarked by laser. This occurs when the item is particularly fine, or hollow, as there's no distortion of the item being marked. Laser marking is also ideal for imported jewellery which has already been finished, so can't be repolished after the Assay Office has stamped its verdict!