How to Check Purity of Gold in India?

In India, jewellery is made from 22 Karat gold where as internationally it is 14 and 18 karat gold. Indians love to buy gold for most of the occasions be it wedding or any auspicious day.

Usually, it so happens that after passing good number of years, it is discovered that the certification by the jeweller is no good at the time of selling or while making repurchase. Check gold rates in various cities here.

Purity of gold is always a top question which arises when we go to buy gold. One should be aware of the basic facts about gold and things to check while purchasing gold jewellery. Click to check facts to check before buying Gold jewellery in India.

There are cases where jewellers charge for a 22 carat ornament or adding stones weight in the total ornament weight thus causing loss for customers.

Under Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, hallmarking agency certifies gold on the basis of Indian standards. Click to know the difference between physical gold and gold ETFs.

Here are few ways to check purity of gold in gold jewellery

1) BIS Standard Mark

A triangular stamp of the Bureau of Indian Standards. The Logo of BIS recognized Assaying and Hallmarking Centre where the jewellery has been assayed and hallmarked.

2) Purity Grade

The number shows how pure the gold is. This ranges from 8 carat denoted by 333 to 24 carat (pure gold) denoted by 999.

999 - 24 carat - Pure Gold
958 - 23 carat
916 - 22 carat
875 - 21 carat
750 - 18 carat
708 - 17 carat
585 - 14 carat
417 - 10 carat
375 - 9 carat
333 - 8 carat

3) Hallmarking Center Logo

This is used to check where the jewelry has been evaluated and hallmarked. A list of the centers and logos can be checked here.http://www.bis.org.in/cert/hallmarkass.htm

4) Year of Marking

The Code letter represents the year of hallmarking of jewellery and is decided by BIS e.g. letter 'A' Donates Year 2000,'J' for 2008.

5) Jeweler Identification Mark

Identification mark of BIS Certified Jeweller or manufacturer of jewellery.

Note that KDM jewellery is not Hallmarked jewellery. So KDM is not form of pure gold.

Why You Need To Check Purity of Gold?

It often happens that when years later down the line when you want to sell your gold, you get a lesser value for your gold, especially if you want to make new gold.

This is because the gold is not hallmarked. While you have paid for the price of gold, you have failed to check the same, which is why you are likely to lose money. The amount of loss becomes even higher if the quantity is rather large.

It's therefore important to check the purity of gold. Most of the gold jewellery shops these days also have sophisticated machines to check, especially imported machines.

Only recently, there were reports that a X-ray Fluorescence machine has been installed in Hyderabad, which after placing the ornament in the machine's plate, delivers a report about the elements used in making the ornaments, their percentage used and carat of the ornament.

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