Many Indians buy gold during festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, and Dhanteras. Some prefer to buy gold coins over jewellery. This is because gold coins can be bought in denominations as low as 0.5 grams. If you are planning to buy gold coins this festive season, here are 7 things that you must keep in mind.
1.Purity of Gold Coins
The purity of gold coins is determined in terms of Karat and fineness. Karat is more commonly used to measure of gold purity. 24 Karat is the purest form of gold which contains 24/24 parts of gold, while, 22KT gold contains 22 parts of gold and 2 parts of other metals such as zinc or silver.
Fineness is the parameter used to find the purity of 24KT
gold. As per the World Gold Council’s website, even ‘pure’ gold can contain
minute amounts of mixed impurities. Fineness is defined as weight of gold in proportion
to the total weight which includes alloy and impurities. It is expressed in
units of parts per 1,000. The purest
form of gold, 24KT, when measured in fineness shows 999.9 parts per thousand of
purity.
Even if you cannot buy 24 KT gold jewellery, you can buy a gold coin of 24KT.
2.Hallmarking
When you buy a gold coin, apart from its purity, check if it
is hallmarked. Government of India has set up the Bureau of Indian
Standards. This ensures that consumers
are not cheated while buying gold by embossing its mark on the gold item to
certify the level of its purity.
You can find these four components hallmarked on gold: BIS logo; Purity in
carat and Fineness;
Logo of Assaying and hallmarking centre,
and Jewellers’ identification mark and number. Hallmarking
will be done only for gold items of 22KT, 18KT and 14 KT.
However, you can always approach any BIS approved gold testing and hallmarking centre to check the purity of any other karat of gold.
3.Packaging
Buy gold coins in a tamper proof packaging. This packaging is a guard against counterfeiting, fraud, and damage. It’s recommended that you do not tear the tamper proof packaging of the gold coin in case you intend to resell it because the packaging ensures the credibility of the purity of the gold coin.
4.Denominations
Gold coins are available ranging from 0.5 grams to 50 grams in weight. However, the availability of the denomination you wish to buy depends on your jeweller.
5.Making Charges
Buying gold coins not only offers you the option to buy the purest form of gold in the minimum weight of 0.5 grams, it also comes with lower making charges in comparison to ornaments. Making charges for gold coins usually ranges between 8 percent and 16 percent. On the other hand, making charges for jewellery can go higher depending on the craftsmanship.
6.Where To Buy
Apart from the local jeweller, you can buy gold coins from online e-tailers, banks, the Stock Holding Corporation of India, Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India, and certain non-banking financial companies like the Muthoot Group.
Only a few like the Muthoot Group offer smaller denomination coins in 0.5 grams. Muthoot also offers coins with designs of Lakshmi, and Ganesha.
Banks like Canara Bank offer 24KT gold in denomination of 5 grams, 8 grams and 10grams.
7.Ease of Selling
Gold coins bought from a bank will not buy back those coins as per the RBI directive.
You can come to Aaradyaa Gold to sell your gold coins, and
get instant cash in hand!Aaradyaa Gold is the best Gold buyer!