Three simple ways to check quality of gold this Dhanteras

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Many Indian households make customary purchase of gold during  'Dhanteras', a day considered auspicious for buying the precious metal.

However, owing to misconceptions regarding the purity of gold, you might end up spending more without getting the best quality.

Here are a few important things that you should keep in mind before purchasing the yellow metal.

Gold purity grade

There are several purity grades to show the purity/quality of gold. However, it must be noted that 24 carat or 99.9 is pure gold and jewelleries are not made up of this because it is too soft to be made into an ornament. For gold jewellery, mostly 22 carat gold is used. Here is a comprehensive list for your better understanding.

24 carat    99.9 ( Pure Gold)

23 carat   95.8

22 carat   91.6

21 carat   87.5

8 carat   75.0

17 carat   70.8

14 carat  58.5

10 carat 41.7

9 carat   37.5

8 carat   33.3

BIS Standard Mark

Checking BIS Standard Mark is another standard way to test the quality of gold. Hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metal in gold. Hallmarks are thus official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of gold jewellery.

X-ray Fluorescence machine

Though this is not the commonly used tool to test gold, however this could be a really efficient method in finding out the quality. The machine is capable of delivering report on the elements used in making the ornaments, percentage and carat used in the ornament.