The Blue Oyster Tear-Drop in Gold

Katandy Designs belongs to Andy Schofield. Andy’s interest in Silver-smithing began about 3 years ago and having purchased a few crude tools   he began to craft some simple designs. This of course led to more specialised tools to enable expansion of his skills and the range of design opportunities. All of his jewellery is the result of self-taught skills through the internet, books and online forums. With the exception of one or two pieces which have proven particularly popular, Andy’s designs are intended to be almost unique ‘one-offs’ which won’t be made exactly the same again. This way you know you are the only person to own a particular piece knowing there is never a chance of ever running into someone else wearing your unique piece of jewellery. All the silver used in Andy’s jewellery is sourced from 100% reliable suppliers in the UK and is guaranteed to be 925 Sterling Silver or .999 Fine Silver. Other materials including stones are always sourced for quality. When work is completed each piece over the required weight is sent to Sheffield Assay Office for testing, verification and hallmarking. The Assay Office will reject anything described as silver if it is not found to be .925 Sterling Silver on testing. They will then laser engrave the hallmark. Each hallmark has five marks, the Sponsor’s Mark (in Andy’s case ‘AS’), the fineness mark (925 for Sterling and 999 for Fine Silver), the Assay Office mark (Yorkshire Rose for Sheffield Office), the Lion Passant (the mark for silver) and the year letter (currently ‘R’ for 2016)