Free Shipping Across INDIA
A buyer’s guide
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Where we stand
How to judge silver jewellery
Hallmarking silver is still voluntary in India, which means most of what’s sold online carries no independent proof of what it is. So the checking falls to you. Here are the six things worth looking at — on our pieces, and on anyone else’s.
What to check
Is it solid silver, or plated?
This is the difference that matters most, and it’s the one most easily hidden. Solid sterling silver is silver all the way through. Silver-plated jewellery is brass or copper with a thin silver coating on the surface — often just a few microns thick.
Plated pieces look identical when new. The difference shows up at around six months of regular wear, when the coating thins at the points that rub — the underside of a ring, the back of a pendant — and the yellow or pink base metal starts to show through. At that point it can’t be repaired, only re-plated, and most people simply stop wearing it.
What to look for
- A 925 stamp on the piece itself, not just on the box or the website
- The words “sterling silver” or “925 silver” in the product specification — not “silver-toned”, “silver finish”, “German silver” or “silver plated”
- A stated silver weight in grams. Brands selling solid silver usually publish it, because the metal is most of the cost
Worth knowing
“German silver” and “Tibetan silver” contain no silver at all. They’re copper-nickel-zinc alloys. The names are legal to use and widely used, which is precisely why they’re worth recognising.
Can the purity actually be verified?
A 925 stamp proves less than most people assume. It’s a mark that anyone can apply — there’s no verification behind the stamp itself. It tells you what the seller says the metal is, not what an independent body has tested it to be.
What does carry independent weight is a BIS hallmark with a HUID — a code unique to that single piece, issued by a BIS-recognised assaying centre after the metal has been tested. You can look the code up yourself and see what came back.
Here’s the part worth understanding: for silver, hallmarking in India is voluntary, not mandatory. Gold jewellery must be hallmarked by law. Silver need not be. So a brand that hallmarks its silver has chosen to pay for testing it wasn’t required to do — and a brand that doesn’t isn’t breaking any rule, but also isn’t offering you anything you can check.
What to look for
- The BIS mark — a triangular logo, usually stamped inside a band or on a clasp
- The purity grade stamped alongside it
- A HUID unique to that individual piece — not a batch number, not the brand’s registration number
- The brand’s own BIS registration number published on their site, which you can cross-check
Two minutes, free
Checking a HUID yourself
This works on any hallmarked jewellery in India, whoever made it. If you own silver you’re unsure about, it’s worth doing tonight.
01Get the appDownload BIS Care, the Bureau of Indian Standards’ own app. It’s free, on both Android and iOS.
02Find the codeLook inside the band, or on the clasp. You may need your phone camera to zoom in.
03Enter itOpen “Verify HUID” and type the code exactly as stamped.
04Read what comes backThe purity grade, the assaying centre that tested it, the date, and the jeweller it was registered to. If nothing comes back, the code isn’t genuine.
Is the stone natural?
Coloured stones fall into three groups, and the price difference between them is enormous. Natural stones are mined and cut. Lab-created stones are chemically identical but grown in a factory. Simulants — usually glass or cubic zirconia — merely look similar and share none of the properties.
All three are legitimate. What isn’t legitimate is being vague about which one you’re selling. The clearest signal of an honest listing is specificity: a brand that names the stone, the cut and the size is telling you something checkable. A brand that writes “coloured stone” or “semi-precious stone” and nothing further has chosen not to.
What to look for
- The stone named specifically — amethyst, moonstone, garnet, rose quartz — not a category
- The word natural or lab-created stated plainly, either is fine as long as it’s said
- Stone dimensions in millimetres
- Slight colour variation between pieces in the product photos, which is a sign of a mined stone rather than a moulded one
What is the plating on top?
Silver jewellery often carries a thin plated layer over the metal. Rhodium is the most common — a hard, bright white metal from the platinum family. It slows tarnishing considerably and stops the silver beneath from touching your skin directly. Some pieces are plated in yellow gold instead, for the colour.
Plating is a good thing, but it isn’t permanent. In Indian conditions it wears over roughly six months to two years depending on how the piece is worn — rings wear faster than earrings, and heat and humidity speed it up. When it does, the silver underneath is still solid silver, and the piece can simply be re-plated. This is a very different situation from plated brass wearing through.
Worth knowing
Watch for the phrase “lifetime plating” or any anti-tarnish guarantee. Plating of any kind is a wear layer and no honest jeweller can guarantee it forever. What a brand can reasonably promise is re-plating as a service, at a stated price.
Will it irritate your skin?
Nickel is the most common cause of contact reactions to jewellery by a wide margin. It’s used in some alloys and in some plating processes because it’s cheap and it bonds well. A piece described as nickel-free has been made without it.
Worth being precise about what sterling silver actually is, though: 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. The copper is what gives silver enough hardness to hold a shape — pure silver is too soft for jewellery. A small number of people are sensitive to copper as well as nickel, and no sterling silver of any brand avoids it, because without it the metal isn’t sterling silver.
What to look for
- Nickel-free stated explicitly, covering both the alloy and the plating
- The full composition published — a brand confident in its metal has no reason to hide the copper
- If you have known metal sensitivities, ask before ordering rather than after
What happens when it tarnishes?
Silver tarnishes. It reacts with sulphur in the air and slowly darkens. This is chemistry, not a defect, and it happens to every piece of silver ever made — including the expensive ones.
It’s also, usefully, a small piece of evidence. Stainless steel and most simulants don’t tarnish at all. So a piece that darkens slightly over months is behaving the way real silver behaves.
It reverses in under a minute with a polishing cloth. What matters is whether the brand told you to expect it. A jeweller who explains tarnishing upfront is a jeweller who expects you to still own the piece in two years. One who avoids the subject is hoping you won’t notice, or won’t come back.
What to look for
- Care instructions that mention tarnishing openly, rather than avoiding it
- A polishing cloth or anti-tarnish pouch included with the order
- An exchange policy stated in plain words, with a clear window and who pays for the pickup
- A reachable phone number and working hours, not only an email form
The whole thing, on one screen
| Check | Good sign | Worth questioning |
|---|---|---|
| Metal | 925 stamped on the piece, silver weight published | “Silver-toned”, “German silver”, no weight given |
| Purity proof | BIS hallmark with a HUID you can verify | A 925 stamp and nothing else |
| Stone | Named stone, stated as natural or lab-created, size in mm | “Coloured stone”, no size, no origin |
| Plating | Named plating, with re-plating offered as a service | “Lifetime plating”, or no mention at all |
| Skin | Nickel-free stated, full composition published | “Hypoallergenic” with nothing behind it |
| After you buy | Tarnishing explained, cloth included, clear exchange terms | Silence on care, vague or hard-to-find policy |
Common questions
Does a 925 stamp mean it’s hallmarked?
No. A 925 stamp is a claim about purity that anyone can apply. A hallmark is the result of independent testing at a BIS-recognised centre, and it comes with a HUID you can verify. Many pieces carry the first without the second.
Is silver hallmarking compulsory in India?
Not currently. Gold jewellery must be hallmarked by law. For silver it remains voluntary, though adoption has been rising. Until that changes, a hallmark on silver is a choice the jeweller made rather than a rule they followed.
Is lab-created worse than natural?
Not worse, just different, and usually less expensive. Lab-created stones are chemically the same as mined ones. The problem is never which one you’re buying — it’s not being told which one you’re buying.
My silver has gone dark. Is it fake?
Almost certainly the opposite. Tarnishing is what real silver does. Most simulants don’t tarnish because they aren’t silver. A polishing cloth reverses it in seconds.
Can I check a HUID before I buy?
Only once you have the piece in hand, since the code is stamped on the item. What you can check beforehand is whether the brand publishes its BIS registration number at all — and whether they invite you to verify or avoid the subject.
We’d rather you checked
Every Carat Hills piece is solid 925 sterling silver, BIS hallmarked with its own HUID, set with named natural stones, and nickel-free. The plating is stated on every product page. All of that is verifiable, and the six checks above work on our jewellery exactly as they work on anyone else’s. Our BIS registration is HM/C-0000000000 — take a piece, open the app, and see for yourself.
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