FAQ's & Fact Feeds

[nextpage title=”Purity & Quality” ]

That beautiful necklace, those stunning earrings, that tempting bracelet…everything is irresistible at P. N. Gadgil & Sons, all set with an enchanting range of jewellery for you to handpick from, this festive season. But before you buy your chosen piece ensure that it is hallmarked.
 
Hallmarking in simple terms is a quality assurance certification that guarantees the purity of gold or silver. In India the system is BIS Hallmark which certifies that the piece of jewellery adheres to a set of standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The hallmarking is done at the BIS Authorized Labs where the gold or silver in every piece is individually tested for its purity and if found correct, a mark is put on it by laser machine.
 
The BIS Hallmark for gold jewellery consists of the following components- The BIS logo, a three digit number (out of a set of six pre-defined values) indicating the purity of the gold in part-per-thousand-format, logo of the assaying centre and a code denoting the date of the hallmarking.
 
Jewellery is a heritage that stays for generations. So at P. N. Gadgil & Sons we educate our customers and encourage them to buy only the hallmarked jewellery. With hallmarking, you get an assurance of its purity and value. Even the banks prefer Hallmarked Gold Jewellery as security while giving loans against jewellery.

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[nextpage title=”Weights & Measurements” ]

If you are interested in the ancient history of gold, here are some interesting facts about its measurement. In ancient India, gold was weighed with the help of Gunja or Ratti seed because the seed is fairly constant in weight.
 
Hallmarking in simple terms is a quality assurance certification that guarantees the purity of gold or silver. In India the system is BIS Hallmark which certifies that the piece of jewellery adheres to a set of standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The hallmarking is done at the BIS Authorized Labs where the gold or silver in every piece is individually tested for its purity and if found correct, a mark is put on it by laser machine.
 
The measure Ratti is equal to one seed.
 

The other standardizations are as follows

  • 1 tola = 12 masha or 11.67 gram
  • 1 masha = 8 ratti or 0.97 gram
  • 1 tank = 4 mashas or 3.88 gram

 
The botanical name of this seed is Abrus Precatorious and it is from the Fabaceae i.e pea family. It is called Coral bead vine, Rosary pea in English, Ratigedi in Nepali, Gunchi in Hindi, Gunjaa in Sanskrit, Gulugunji in Kannada, Gunch in Bengali, Ratti in Gujarati, Kundu mani in Tamil, Gunja in Marathi and Kaincha in Oriya.
Gunja seeds are 6 to 7 mm long scarlet seeds with black bases. There are 4 to 6 seeds in a pod. Because of their vibrant colour combination and attractive look they are used in the native jewellery, too.
 

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[nextpage title=”Carat in Gold, Carat in Diamond” ]

Some swear by gold and some sigh for diamonds. But both gold and diamond are treasured by the connoisseurs of fine living and both have a measure in common- carat. But it does not mean the same. For gold, it is a measure of purity and for diamond, of weight.
 
In Africa, the kuara seeds of the African Coral Tree were used as counterweights for weighing diamonds. The term Carat is derived from the kuara seed or from the Greek word Keration or the kernel of the Carob bean that comes from the Locust tree. 1 carat equals to 0.20 grams and 100 points. 5 carats equals 1 gram.
 
In the diamond industry, even a fraction of a carat causes remarkable cost difference and hence precision is crucial. In the gold industry carat stands for the percentage of pure gold in a jewellery piece. The higher the carat, the higher the gold content. In India and some of the countries people spell it as Karat instead of carat when it comes to gold.
 
24-carat gold is fine (99.9 per cent Au w/w), 18-carat gold is 75 per cent gold, 12-carat gold is 50 per cent gold, and so forth. Gold is a relatively soft metal and high-carat gold tends to be easily damaged hence the 24 carat gold jewellery needs to be carefully maintained. Usually copper or silver is mixed with gold to make the jewellery.
So when you are choosing your favourite gold or diamond creation keep in mind the importance of carat.

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[nextpage title=”Journey of Gold” ]

The story of gold, the first metal known to mankind, is fascinating. The story begins when it emerges as an unprocessed ore from the goldmine and ends as it is transformed into a pure, valuable metal with intrinsic value and cultural significance. But this end is a beginning of yet another exciting story of sheer glamour, glitz, grandeur and glory associated with gold. There are four steps in this journey- mining, extraction and refining, manufacturing and retailing. The gold mines are of two types. In Open Pit Mines large deposits of gold are mined near the surface. In Underground Mines, the gold is located deep down. During mining the unprocessed ore is crushed. Then it is made water soluble, after which it is purified by smelting in a furnace at over 1,000 C. This separates the gold from impurities such as zinc, copper and iron. The molten gold is allowed to cool. This up to 92% pure gold is send to refineries where the remaining impurities are removed to create gold of 99.5% purity. Creating gold of 99.99% purity is a complex process.
 
The refined gold is then transformed into beautiful ornaments or used in high-tech industries such as automotive, electronics, medicine etc. Jewellery is the key element in the story of gold and India is the world’s largest market for gold jewellery.
 
We at P. N. Gadgil & Sons are aware that Purity is a premium factor in gold purchase. Our jewellery is BIS Hallmarked. We even educate our customers about hallmarking and encourage them to buy only the hallmarked jewellery.

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