Straight answers to the questions families actually ask us at the counter — about pricing, purity, silver, and planning a jewellery purchase.
Why two necklaces of the same weight cost different amounts — making charges, wastage, value addition and GST, with worked examples.
Read the guide →How to read a hallmark, what the six-digit HUID tells you, and how to verify your gold's purity yourself in under a minute.
Read the guide →Gram accumulation vs bonus plans, what to check before joining, and the questions worth asking any jeweller about their scheme.
Read the guide →Choosing a size, 24K vs 22K, how the price is built, where to buy, storage, buyback — and why banks won't take a coin back.
Read the guide →What a full Tamil bridal set contains, how much gold you actually need, when to start buying, and a checklist to take to the counter.
Read the guide →Dhanteras, Akshaya Tritiya, Pongal and Aadi — what each occasion calls for, and the plain truth about whether festive gold is cheaper.
Read the guide →What home purity tests can honestly tell you, the two methods that actually work, and how to clean gold without damaging it.
Read the guide →The four questions behind every gold bill: what GST really applies, why 18K work is priced the way it is, how to compare two quotes, and what a 916 piece fetches when you sell.
Is it 3% or 5%? Where each rate belongs, how a finished ornament should be billed, and the sums worked through.
Read the guide →The lighter carat is cheaper metal but usually carries the finer work — why it can cost more to make, worked both ways.
Read the guide →No jeweller has one making charge. How a quote is structured, why the same necklace differs between showrooms, and what to ask.
Read the guide →You are paid for the gold content, not the making charges or GST. How the day's rate, the assay and refining deductions set what you get back.
Read the guide →Silver has no carat scale and no compulsory hallmark — six short guides on reading the numbers, checking a piece at home or at the counter, and making sense of old family silver.
What 925, 999 and 800 mean, the six grades BIS recognises, and why silver hallmarking is voluntary when gold's is not.
Read the guide →Every fineness mark in one table, the grades BIS hallmarks in India, and the stamps that hold no silver at all.
Read the guide →What the BIS silver mark, the purity grade and the HUID tell you — and what to check when a piece carries none.
Read the guide →Magnet, ice, ring, smell and the stamp: what each one actually measures, and the exact point where each one stops.
Read the guide →Touchstone and acid, XRF, specific gravity and a full assay — what each measures, how deep it reads, and what it costs.
Read the guide →Most old Indian silver carries no purity mark. What maker's stamps, town names and English hallmarks actually prove.
Read the guide →22K gold is ₹13,040 per gram and silver is ₹210 per gram in Vellore today (30 October 2026). We publish both every morning.