How to Verify Gold Purity in the UAE Before You Buy

Hallmarks, the acid and XRF tests, the certificate and the tracking code: the four checks that tell you the gold is what the invoice says.

The 18K hallmark stamped inside a Mazimo signet ring, seen under a jeweller's loupe

Gold is easy to trust and easy to fake. The good news is that in the UAE purity is verifiable in minutes, without instruments of your own, if you know what to ask for. Here are the four checks, in the order they happen at the counter.

1. Read the hallmark

Every piece of gold jewellery sold in the UAE must be stamped with its purity: 750 for 18K, 875 for 21K, 916 for 22K, 999 for 24K. Look inside the band of a ring, on the clasp or end-link of a chain, on the post of an earring. The stamp should be crisp, not blurred, and match what you were told. No stamp, no sale.

2. Watch the test

Ask for the piece to be tested in front of you. The quick method is the touchstone and acid: a light rub on a stone, a drop of acid graded for the karat, and the streak either holds or dissolves. The precise method is an electronic analyser that reads the alloy without marking the piece. Mazimo tests every piece it buys back, and any piece a customer brings in, at the boutique in front of you.

3. Weigh it with the scale in view

Purity and weight together are the price. The scale should be calibrated, on the counter facing you, and the reading should be written on the invoice to two decimal places. Weight quoted from memory or from a tag alone is not enough.

4. Take the certificate, and check it later

A certificate of purity states the karat, the weight and the seller, and it is what an insurer or a future buyer will ask for. Mazimo prints the certificate as part of the invoice and gives every piece a tracking code; entering it at mazimo.ae/track opens the same certificate online, so the record cannot be lost with the paper.

Things that are not proof

Colour. Alloys can be tuned to look like any karat.
The magnet test. Gold is not magnetic, but neither are most alloys used to fake it.
A price that seems generous. Below the gold value, something is missing.
A stamp alone on a heavy piece. Stamps can be added; the test confirms them.

Verifying gold you already own

Bring it in. We test and weigh any piece, from any jeweller, and give you a written reading. If you want to exchange it, the reading becomes your credit at the day's rate. Details on the services page.

At Mazimo. Every piece is weighed in front of you at Al Manal Center, Deira, priced on the live gold rate of the day, and leaves with a certificate of purity and a tracking code you can check any time at mazimo.ae/track. Delivery across the UAE is insured and complimentary; unworn pieces can be exchanged within 48 hours of delivery.