Planning to Buy Gold This Dhanteras- Yellow Gold is Changing Its Colour, and This is How You can Check Its Purity

Neha Anand, Consultant, Commodities Control

Buying gold on the auspicious occasion of Dhanteras is an age-old tradition that most of us adhere to. As far as gold is concerned, the Indian consumer is at this moment is spoilt for choices. Right from electronic version to physical gold, it is available in many forms. If you are one of those, who want to touch and feel the gold and is dabbling with the idea of adding some more of this yellow metal in your life then get ready this metal is changing its colour.

How is gold changing colour?

When it comes to gold we think of yellow and yellow is the most popular colour of gold but if you are craving for something new, then there is a diverse palette to choose from. The process of alloying—mixing other metals with pure 24-carat gold—gives malleable gold more durability, and this process can change its colour as well.

Yellow gold turns into shiny white gold through alloying of gold with silver or palladium. Also, it is plated with rhodium to create a more rigid surface with a brighter shine. Pure gold, when alloyed with copper, gives the metal a soft pink tone. The addition of patinas or oxides achieves the more unusual colours like blue and purple. You even have a black gold which comes with cobalt oxide alloying.

How to check the purity of gold? 

Gold’s weight or purity is measured in Karat (KT). A high Karat gold signifies the high purity of gold. When you buy gold, you need to ensure the following-

1- Check Hallmark by BIS 

You must always check if the gold that you are purchasing is hallmarked by the BIS or not. This process assessing the purity of gold is called hallmarking. It should have a BIS logo indicating that its purity is verified in one of its licensed laboratories. BIS is a government body which is authorised to certify gold to ensure its purity.

Some jewellers may not have BIS hallmarking and instead have their own in-house hallmarking. But how much can you trust a jeweller? That’s why a BIS hallmarking is a must check before you spend your money on this precious metal. Government has issued a mandatory hallmarking order on 15 January 2020 for gold jewellery/artefacts. This order makes it compulsory for all the jeweller to sell hallmarked gold jewellery from 15 January 2021.

You have to pay a hallmarking charge of Rs 35 plus taxes for an article.

2- Purity of gold

There two parameters that tell you about the purity of gold- Karat (KT) and fineness. If the jeweller chooses Karat as the measurement, then you must know that 24 KT will be the purest gold. But 24 Karat gold is too soft and can’t be converted into jewellery. Metals like silver or zinc are added to gold so that it can be used further to make jewellery.

Fineness is measured in parts per thousand. As per the World Gold Council , 24KT should be 1.0, i.e., 24/24, but due to impurities, it can be refined to a fineness level of 999.9 parts of thousand.

BIS gives three levels of purity, i.e., Karat for hallmarking of gold which is indicated in the table–

Source- BIS website

3- Where was purity checked?

BIS logo and purity measurement are essential, but it is also necessary to check where was your gold assessed? There is a list of BIS recognised Assaying and Hallmarking centres that check the purity of gold. BIS has the list of licensed labs on their website.

4- Check Jeweller’s authenticity identification mark

Every jeweller has a licence and a certified logo by BIS. The jeweller mandatorily has to put its identification mark on the sold gold. You can check the licence of certified jeweller on the BIS website.

In case of any complaint regarding your hallmarked jewellery, you can lodge your issues with BIS by sending them an email to hallmarking@bis.org.in.