How to Verify a Gold Hallmark

Reading a hallmark and verifying one are different things. A number pressed into a ring is a claim by whoever pressed it. A hallmark is that claim with an independent assay office standing behind it — and the two look almost identical to an untrained eye.

What each mark on the piece means

The fineness number is only one of several marks. On a properly hallmarked piece you should also find an assay office mark identifying who tested it, and often a maker's mark. A bare fineness number with nothing beside it has not been independently tested.

India: the BIS hallmark and HUID

Indian hallmarking is the most rigorous in the region and, since 2021, the most verifiable. A compliant piece carries three things:

• The BIS mark — the Bureau of Indian Standards triangle. Without it, nothing else on the piece is a certification.
• The purity grade written out, as 22K916 or 18K750 — not just a bare number.
• A six-digit alphanumeric HUID — the Hallmark Unique Identification code, unique to that individual piece.

How to actually verify a HUID

1. Find the six-character code on the piece. It is small — use a phone camera in macro mode or a 10x loupe.
2. Open the BIS Care app and enter it under the hallmarking verification section.
3. Check that what comes back matches what is in front of you: the purity, the jeweller's registration and the item type.

If the code does not resolve, or resolves to a different purity or a different jeweller, stop. That is not a paperwork problem — it means the piece is not what the stamp says it is.

Pakistan: what a stamp does and does not guarantee

Pakistan has no equivalent of mandatory BIS hallmarking. A "916" or "21K" stamp on a piece bought in a Pakistani shop is usually the maker's own mark. Most are accurate — the trade runs on repeat custom and reputation — but it is not independently verified, and there is no central database to check it against.

What substitutes for it in practice:

• A purity certificate issued with the invoice. Established jewellers provide one. It should name the karat, the weight and the date.
• An XRF test. Any shop with an X-ray fluorescence analyser can read the exact composition non-destructively in seconds. Most will do it free, including on pieces you did not buy from them. For anything of real value, this is the answer.
• The invoice itself. Weight, karat and the rate applied, in writing, dated. This is what determines what you recover at resale — more so than the stamp.

The arithmetic check anyone can do: multiply the weight by the per-gram rate for the stated karat. At today's Pakistani 22 carat rate of Rs 36,932.41 per gram, a 15 gram piece contains Rs 553,986 of metal. Everything above that in the quote is making, wastage and tax — and each should be named separately.

Gulf and UK marks

• UAE and Saudi Arabia: pieces are typically stamped with fineness (750, 875, 916, 999) and often a maker's mark. Dubai's gold souk operates under municipal assay oversight, which is why it has the reputation it does.
• United Kingdom: the most complete system in the world. Every legally-sold gold item above 1 gram carries a sponsor's mark, a fineness number, and an assay office town mark — Leopard's Head for London, Anchor for Birmingham, Rose for Sheffield, Castle for Edinburgh. A date letter is optional but common.

Marks that guarantee nothing

• "KDM". This described the solder, not the gold — cadmium was once used to join 22 carat pieces. It is toxic to work with and BIS phased it out. A shop still promoting KDM in 2026 is either working old stock or has not kept up.
• "Gold plated", "gold filled", "rolled gold", "vermeil". All describe a coating over a base metal. The gold content is a fraction of a percent by value.
• "1 gram gold" jewellery. A marketing term for gold-plated imitation. It is not one gram of gold.
• A fineness number with no assay mark beside it. A claim, not a certification.

A practical checking order

1. Look for the assay mark first, not the number. The number is easy to stamp; the assay mark is the part that means something.
2. Verify the HUID if you are in India. It takes thirty seconds.
3. Check high-wear points — clasps, ring undersides, chain links. Plating wears through there first and a different colour underneath is conclusive.
4. Test with a magnet to rule out a ferrous core. Gold is not magnetic. Passing proves nothing; failing is decisive.
5. Get an XRF reading for anything valuable, inherited, or bought informally.
6. Reconcile the price against the metal value using the rate for the stated karat. A quote well below metal value is a warning, not a bargain.

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