Method of Checking Purity of Gold

Checking the purity of Gold – One of the most sought-after items by Indians is gold. Since ancient times Gold has been considered as a storehouse of value in India. Be it urban India or rural India, rich or poor India, each one tries to buy gold at the first available opportunity. Ladies always eye for this yellow metal. Mostly they prefer to purchase gold in the form of jewelry.

Whenever one plans to purchase Gold or gold jewelry, the very first thing that he should ensure is the purity of Gold i.e. how pure the gold is.

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But here comes a question how an individual can check the purity of gold? So to protect the rights of consumers government has made hallmarking of gold jewellery mandatory in India. Hallmarking of gold jewelry will not only help to keep control of quality but also safeguard consumers from corrupt jewelers.

We are herewith guidelines given by BIS which everybody must read to know the basic facts about gold and what to check while purchasing gold jewelry.

How to Check the Purity of Gold? – 5 Important Signs

Under Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, hallmarking agency certifies gold on the basis of Indian standards. In other words, gold jewellery will be evaluated and tested at official hallmarking centers and then certified that the metal conforms to the national and international standard of fineness and purity.

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What Sign One Should Check Before Purchasing Gold Jewellery?

One must check hallmark before purchasing gold jewellery. Hallmark consists of five components i.e.

(1)   BIS Standard Mark

BIS hallmark looks likes this:-

(2)  Purity Grade

Gold purity grade shows how pure the gold is.

(3) Mark of Hallmarking Centre

One must check for Logo of Hallmarking centre where the jewellery has been hallmarked. A list of hallmarking centers is given here.

(4)  Year of Marking

Alphabets represents the year of hallmarking of jewellery and is decided by BIS e.g. letter ‘A’ Donates Year 2000, ‘J’ for 2008, ‘N’ for 2010, ‘M’ for 2011 and ‘N’ for 2012 etc.

(5) Jewelers Identification Mark

Many jewelers keep their own identification mark of BIS Certified Jeweler/ Jewellery Manufacturer.

Important Points To Keep In Mind While Purchasing Gold Jewellery

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Remember Hallmarking charge on Gold Jewellery is only Rs. 35 per article & KDM jewellery is not Hallmarked jewellery. So KDM can not ensure purity of Gold. 

Hallmark Rule for Gold

From June 1, 2022, jewellers can only sell hallmarked gold jewellery, irrespective of its purity. This would mean that every gold jewellery item irrespective caratage must be mandatorily hallmarked.

The government had made gold hallmarking mandatory effective from June 16, 2021; this was done for items with cartage of 14KT, 18KT and 22 KT. It was later expanded to six caratages of gold jewellery/artefacts – i.e., 14,18,20,22, 23 and 24, effective from April 4, 2022.

The government has also revised the signs of purity on gold jewellery. From June 1, 2021, hallmarked gold jewellery will have the following three signs:
a) BIS logo
b) Purity/Fineness grade
c) Six-digit Alphanumeric code, also known as HUID
Before that, there were four signs of hallmarking. These were i) BIS logo, ii) Purity/Fineness grade, iii) Assay Centre’s identification mark and iv) Jeweller’s identification number.

The fineness or purity of gold jewelry will be reflected as follows on the hallmarked item –

The jeweler will charge you Rs 35 additionally for every gold item that you buy as hallmarking charge.

For more information visit the BIS website: www.bis.org.in

JAGO GRAHAK JAGO.

All that Glitters may not be Gold. Be sure, It is pure!