Gold is a precious metal, known for its bright yellow color. Gold is considered an important contributor to the strength of the economy of any country. It is one of the most sought after metals in the world.
Most women in India like to buy and wear gold jewellery. Not only this, it is also considered a safe investment. Gold prices keep changing with time. In the last five years, the price of gold has seen a rise of more than 90 percent.
From July 2018 to July 2023, the price of gold has increased by almost 99 percent. On July 30, 2018, the price of 24 carat gold was Rs 30,850 per 10 grams. By July 21, 2023, the price of gold had increased to Rs 59,610 per 10 grams. In December 2023, the price of 10 grams of gold is beyond Rs 62,000.
What is the meaning of carat in gold?
Whenever we go to a jeweler to buy gold, he shows us the jewelery and tells us how many carats the gold is worth. The purity of gold can be estimated from carat.
Gold is divided into five types in carats – 24 carat gold is considered the purest, which contains 99.99 percent gold. It is also called 999 gold. Apart from this, 22 carat gold contains 91.6 percent gold, the rest is a mixture of other metals.
18 carat gold contains 75 percent gold, 14 carat gold contains 58.3 percent gold and 10 carat gold contains 41.7 percent gold.
How to replace old jewelry?
Gold ornaments kept in the house for a long time get spoiled due to some reason or the other. If you want to replace your old jewelery with new jewellery, then it is very important for you to keep some important things in mind.
First of all you have to take your old jewelery to a trusted jeweller. It is very important to go to a trusted jeweller. Otherwise some fraud may happen to you.
The exchange process of a trusted jeweler is quite transparent. Even if you want to exchange online, do it only from a trusted site.
The jeweler will first remove all the artificial stones from your jewelery so that the value of only the gold can be calculated. It is cleaned thoroughly so that all the dust on it can be removed.
To check the purity of the jewellery, it is put in the XRF machine, where it becomes known what other metals are mixed in this gold. Every article of gold jewelery is scanned separately.
Each article has its own weight. The price of gold is noted based on its purity and weight but this is not the final price. After this your old precious jewelery is melted.
After the jewelery is melted, there may be a slight decrease in its weight due to dirt, discoloration or any damage.
How is the value of old jewelery determined?
After melting the old jewellery, its purity is once again checked through XRF machine. After taking three readings, the average value is considered to be the real purity of the old gold. After this the molten gold is weighed once again.
The final price is decided on the basis of this new purity and weight. If you are satisfied with this price, then the value of this old jewelery is adjusted in the price of new gold jewellery.
Is it necessary to melt old jewelry while exchanging it?
If you take your old jewelery to the same shop from where you first bought it, there is no need to melt it. Although some jewelers agree to exchange your old jewelery without melting it, but in return they deduct 25-30 per cent as wastage charges.
Hallmarked jewelery does not require melting as its purity (22k/18k/14k carat) is certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Now understand with example
Let us assume the price of 18k gold is Rs 5000 and the price of 22k gold is Rs 6000. You want to exchange your old jewelery weighing 20 grams for new jewelery of the same weight. According to this rate, the cost of your old jewelery is Rs 1 lakh and the cost of new jewelery is Rs 1.20 lakh.
Will you have to pay only Rs 20,000 difference between these two values while changing jewellery? No. Apart from this, you will also have to pay GST and the shopkeeper can also charge wastage charge. Wastage charge is levied on the full value of the new jewellery.
If you are not paying wastage charge…
Price of new jewelery – Price of old jewelery + (3% GST on price of new jewellery)
120,000 – 100,000 + 3600 = 23,600
If you are paying 10% wastage charge then…
(Price of new jewelery – Price of old jewelery) + 10% wastage charge on the price of new jewelery + 3% GST
120,000 – 100,000 + 12,000 + 3960 = 35,960
Hallmarking is necessary to sell gold
How many carats the gold is can be found out by looking at the hallmark. The government has made hallmarking mandatory for selling gold jewelery from April 1, 2023. Without Hallmark Unique Identification Number (HUID) you cannot sell your old jewellery.
Even if you had purchased jewelery before the hallmarking rule came into force, you cannot sell or exchange it. Before selling old gold jewellery, it is mandatory to get it hallmarked.
According to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), if old jewelery is not hallmarked then one can easily get it hallmarked.
Jewelery is not made from 24k gold
24k is not written on any gold jewelery because it is 100% pure gold and a mixture of other metals is necessary to make any jewellery. To make jewellery, metals like copper, silver and platinum have to be mixed.
24k gold is considered best as an investment. Mostly 22k or 18k gold is used to make jewellery.
