Know exactly what you are buying
300 pearl and jewellery terms, each one linked to a piece you can hold.
Where would you like to begin?
Types of Pearl
Freshwater, saltwater, South Sea, keshi, and how to tell a real pearl from a coated bead.
Shapes
Round, baroque, drop, coin and the rest, and what each one is worth paying for.
Quality & Grading
What AAA actually means, plus lustre, nacre, orient and the claims to be sceptical of.
Size & Length
Millimetres, choker to rope, bangle sizing, and which length suits which neckline.
Jewellery Styles
Jhumka, mangalsutra, kundan, polki, temple work and the rest of the Indian vocabulary.
Gold & Hallmarking
Karat versus carat, 22K and 18K, 916, plating, vermeil and what a BIS hallmark proves.
Gemstones & Cuts
Ruby, emerald, sapphire and zircon, their Indian names, and the cuts from princess to cabochon.
Metals & Plating
925 silver, platinum, brass and the alloys and finishes a piece is actually built from.
Clasps & Construction
Clasps, knotting, drilling and settings, the parts that decide whether a piece survives.
Care & Authenticity
Storing pearls, the tooth test, restringing, and the astrological terms buyers ask about.
Buying & Value
Making charges, wastage, gold rate, GST, buyback and what a piece is actually worth.
Gold & Hallmarking
1–21 of 21
14 Karat Gold
58.5% gold. Hard, durable and common in export and Western jewellery, less so in India.
18 Karat Gold
75% gold. Harder and more durable than 22K, which is why stone-set and Western-style jewellery uses it.
22 Karat Gold
91.6% gold. The Indian standard for traditional jewellery, and what a 916 hallmark means.
24 Karat Gold
Pure gold, 99.9% fine. Too soft for jewellery that gets worn, so it is bought as coins and bars.
750 Gold
The hallmark number for 18 karat gold, meaning 75% pure.
916 Gold
The hallmark number for 22 karat gold, meaning 91.6% pure. The same thing as 22K.
Assay
The laboratory test that establishes how much gold is actually in a piece.
Carat
A unit of gemstone weight, equal to 0.2 grams. Nothing to do with karat, which measures gold purity.
Fineness
Purity expressed in parts per thousand rather than karats. 999, 916, 750 and 585 are the numbers you will see stamped.
Gold Filled
A thick layer of gold mechanically bonded to a base metal, legally at least 5% of the item's weight. Far more durable than plating.
Gold Plating
A thin layer of gold deposited over a base metal. Gives the colour of gold at a fraction of the cost, and wears off over time.
Gold Polish
An Indian trade term for a thin gold-coloured plating over base metal. Not a purity, and not solid gold.
Gold Vermeil
Gold plating over sterling silver rather than base metal, at a defined minimum thickness. The best of the plated family.
Hallmark
An official stamp certifying precious metal purity. In India, BIS hallmarking is mandatory for gold jewellery.
HUID
The six-character code stamped on every hallmarked Indian gold item, unique to that single piece.
Karat
The purity of gold, measured in twenty-fourths. 24K is pure gold; 22K is 22 parts gold to 2 parts other metal.
Micron Plating
The thickness of a plated layer, in thousandths of a millimetre. The single number that determines how long a finish lasts.
Rose Gold
Gold alloyed with a high proportion of copper, giving a warm pink colour. Harder than yellow gold.
White Gold
Gold alloyed with white metals and then usually rhodium plated. The white you see is a coating, not the metal.
XRF Testing
A non-destructive X-ray test that reads metal purity in seconds. What the karat meter in a jeweller's shop actually is.
Yellow Gold
Gold alloyed with silver and copper in balance, keeping its natural warm colour. The traditional Indian choice.