Day in and Day out, we as customers purchase jewellery for several reasons! But do we pay enough attention to its purity? Do we ever try to know if the jewellery meets the standards of fineness?  Most of the time we tend not to consider it so important. So, what is this Purity of jewellery or Hallmarking!

Let's have a look!

What is Hallmarking?

“Hallmarking” refers to the mark on jewellery pieces crafted of precious metal gold. This shows that the pieces have been independently tested and verified and meet all legal standards of purity.

In other words, Hallmarking is said to be the accurate determination and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metal in precious metal articles. Hallmarks are thus official marks used globally as a guarantee of purity to let customers and government know about authentic jewellery.

HOW DOES HALLMARKED JEWELLERY REACHES YOU?

For hallmarking of jewellery, any jeweller has to obtain a registration from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The registration can be made online.

Once registered, the jeweller sends the jewellery for hallmarking to BIS recognized for Assaying and Hallmarking Centre(A&H).

Once registered, the jeweller sends the jewellery for hallmarking to BIS recognized for Assaying and Hallmarking Centre(A&H).

Here, the data for all the processes are undertaken in the centre from inward receipt & weight, XRF, Sampling, Fire Assay and Laser and marking is maintained online & monitored on a real time basis.

At the end of the testing, a unique six-digit alphanumeric code is generated from the BIS server for each jewellery article and is laser marked by the Assaying and Hallmarking Centre on the jewellery along with BIS logo and purity mark.

Hallmarked Jewellery - Why is it Necessary!

Effective from June 2021, it is now a legal necessity for all jewellery articles to be hallmarked irrespective of its purity content. This is done to protect the interests and rights of customers so that the buyers are not duped while buying gold and this process makes sure that they get the right purity as promised on any piece of gold article purchased.

What to check for when looking for hallmarked jewellery:

Hallmark for the type of gold being purchased.

Every Gold jewellery article purchased is marked according to the karat they are made up of. For each karat (KT), whether used globally or in India, different hallmarks are set.

Hallmark for the various karats:

● If a gold product bears the hallmark '375', then your gold has been tested and classed as “9” karat (KT) or 37.5 percent pure.

● If a gold product bears the hallmark '416', then your gold has been tested and classed as “10” karat (KT) or 41.7 percent pure.

● If a gold product bears the hallmark '500', then your gold has been tested and classed as “12” karat (KT) or 50 percent pure.

● If a gold product bears the hallmark '585', then your gold has been tested and classed as “14” karat (KT) or 58.5 percent pure.

● If a gold product bears the hallmark '916', then your gold has been tested and classed as “22” karat (KT) or 75 percent pure.

● If a gold product bears the hallmark '916', then your gold has been tested and classed as “22” karat (KT) or 75 percent pure.

● If any solid gold bears the hallmark '999', then your gold has been tested and classed as “24” karat (KT) or completely pure without any impurity.

In other words, this is the highest form of purity of Gold. However, this is not for jewellery use pur poses.

Except for 24kt Gold, in all the other karats, the remaining percentage is alloy of other metals.

At PURE TRACES, we use 14kt or 18kt majorly. But other karats are used as and when requested by customers.

Authentic invoice of hallmarked articles

It is important to have an authentic invoice of a hallmarked article as it acts like a redressal mechanism in case of any dispute, misuse or complaint.

So, the next time you head out to purchase jewellery, you can make an informed decision!