Asians purchasing gold jewellery for wedding gifts told to check for the hallmark

Gold is traditionally given as a gift at Asian weddings

Asians purchasing gold jewellery for wedding gifts have been warned to check that their pieces have been properly hallmarked. Trading Standards at Birmingham City Council have issued the warning after their investigation uncovered a number of instances where gold Indian wedding jewellery had not been hallmarked, or given an incorrect hallmark.

As gold is often given as a gift at Asian wedding ceremonies, and with the forthcoming wedding season fast approaching, Trading standards have been keen to clamp down on any Birmingham retailers who are failing to hallmark their products.

The problem often arises as a result of gold jewellery that has been imported from the Asian sub continents. Here there is no rule about the hallmarking of jewellery. However once an item of gold is put on sale in the UK, it must bear the hallmark. This symbol distinguishes clearly the value of the piece of jewellery, without it, customers are unable to determine the true value of the item easily.

Traditionally gold is an important element of the Asian wedding ceremony. The bride in particular will wear a number of different gold pieces during the celebrations. The costs of this gold jewellery can run into thousands of pounds and often forms part of the bride’s dowry.

Advice being given to Asian customers looking to purchase gold jewellery is to check before you buy that your items have been correctly hallmarked to ensure you are getting value for money.