“Smart people save gold”.  Gold has been a traditional form of investment apart from being a favorite gift at marriages and festivals.Savings through gold is always wise and fruitful besides safety.

Pure gold is without a mixing of other metal.  It is skin friendly in nature.  While purchasing a gold jewelry see whether you are purchasing jewelry without mixing of other metals with gold. Notice the trademark on the karat number.

Gold is a very ductile (able to make into wire) and malleable (hammerable) in nature. It is a brilliant yellow precious metal that is resistant to corrosion by air and water. It is very soft when pure (24 karat). Pure gold is expensive and soft in nature.  Because of its soft nature it is alloyed with base metal for the use of jewelry.  Copper is used as a base metal for making jewelry.  he mixing of gold with other metal can change the colour of gold.  The colour of pure gold is Bright yellow.

The word gold means yellow.  It is from Latin word ‘Aurum’.  Aurum has a meaning of “Glowing Dawn”.  The word gold origin from Indo-European root word.  Gold has a symbol of AU. If you think banks of life insurance are only means of saving; savings through gold is always wise and fruitful besides safety. Gold commonly occurs in its native forms.  It is the first metal mined on earth.  Gold is beautiful and endurable in nature.  Gold objects were made before 5000 years.  Supplies of gold from various deposits of Middle East appeared during ancient civilizations.  Gold is known as “noble” metal because it does not oxidize under normal condition.  The pure form of gold has a metallic shine.  It has a colour of sun yellow.  The mixing of other metal like silver, copper, nickel, tellurium, platinum etc with gold causes color hues from silver-white to green and orange-red.  Pure gold is soft in nature.  It has chemical similarity of gold.  If gold like material is added with mercury both the metal forms amalgam.  The prospectors of the gold-bearing country look for gold where coarse sands and gravel have accumulated in the back sands.  Gold has been deposited in these black sands.  The black sands consist of the most common mineral called Magnetite.  Many precious metals like cassiterite, gem stones, ilmenite, platinum-group metals, monazite, and chromite are also present.  Biggest gold mine in the USA is South Dakota and Homestake mine.  This mine is 8000 feet deep, accounted for almost 10% of total gold production.

Varieties of Gold

Before you go to pick your gold, it makes sense to know the types of gold there are and how they are used. “Gold Filled” and “Gold Overlay” refers to a layer of at least 10 karat gold that has been permanently bonded by heat and pressure to one or more surfaces of the support metal, and then rolled down or drawn to a prescribed thickness. The karat gold must be at least one-tenth of the total weight.

Gold plate implies that a layer of plating of 10 karat gold or better has been bonded to a base metal. The karat gold content may be less than one-twentieth, but it must be properly identified by weight in terms of total metal content. Gold leaf is gold plating that has been pounded and applied by hand.

Pure gold is bright golden yellow in colour.  Other metals are alloyed with gold to give strength to the gold.

• Rose Gold – Rose gold is slightly reddish shade.  This colour change is due to mixing of copper.
• White Gold – It looks pale because it is almost silver coloured gold.  It causes due to nickel.
• Green Gold – Green gold is slight greenish in colour.  It is due to mixing of copper and silver.
• Blue gold – Blue gold with slight bluish shade.  This is caused by iron.

Gold Standards

Carat, the percentage of real gold in the piece.   24K is 100% gold, 18K is 75% gold, 14K is 58.3% gold, 10K is 41.7% gold.  The rest of the metal is made of a blend (alloys) of other metals that give it strength and durability. These include copper, silver, nickel and zinc.

BIS is Bureau of Indian Standards.  It has been identified by Government of India, as a sole agency to operate this scheme in India.  This is operating under BIS Act and also voluntary in nature.  Rules and regulations of BIS are followed.

The BIS hallmarking scheme has been linked with International principles on hallmarking.  License has been approved to the jewelers by BIS under hallmarking scheme.  The certified jewelers can get their jewellery hallmarked from any recognized BIS examining and hallmarking centre.  The reorganizations to this centre will be given against BIS criteria Document, HMS/RAHC/GO1 which is in line with International criteria on Marking and Control of Precious metals.

• 958 Corresponding to 23 Karat
• 916 Corresponding to 22 Karat
• 875 Corresponding to 21 Karat
• 750 Corresponding to 18 Karat
• 585 Corresponding to 14 Karat
• 375 Corresponding to 9 Karat

Gold jewellery from certain places is marked with KDM stamp.  It means that the jewellery was soldered with Cadmium.  Cadmium is nothing but Kadium.  Kadium denotes the purity of gold.  KDM was habitually used in joining of gold jewelry for its good properties of liquidity and melting at lower temperatures. Purity of gold represents the percentage of gold in the metal.  KDM has a logo and certificate with KDM mark.  The real gold mark is hallmarked logo.  Hallmarked jewellery has logo with 22K or 18K gold.  Now-a-days, jewelers are using gold solders, which are free from Cadmium.