What is Jewellery Hallmarking and Does it Matter?

A hallmark is an official seal that’s stamped onto precious metals and certifies the purity of the item. Because it’s impossible to tell how pure a precious metal item is by just looking at it, the process of hallmarking guarantees a standard of quality.
So, if a piece of gold jewellery is stamped with a ‘gold’ hallmark, the buyer knows the piece is real gold.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Gold, silver, platinum, and most recently, palladium, must all be hallmarked by law.

Gold (in its variations of white, yellow and rose gold) must also be hallmarked as 9ct, 14ct, 18ct etc standards.
  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This is where is gets a bit like a maths class!

Take a look at your solid gold jewellery and you’ll see it’s stamped with a number. This number tells you the purity of the gold.
At the top of the scale, 24ct gold is 100% pure gold.
  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
9ct gold: 9ct gold is 37.5% pure gold. 9ct gold jewellery is stamped with the number 375.
  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
14ct gold: 14ct gold is 58.5% pure gold. 14ct gold jewellery is stamped with the number 585.
  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
18ct gold: 18ct gold is 75% pure gold. 18ct gold jewellery is stamped with the number 750.