Gold:
Following are the different gold purities used in our diamond and diamond polki (jadau, thappa) jewellery collections:
- 24K front / 20K back / 12K side: This is the purity that kundan meena jewellery has been made in, traditionally. In this case, the purity of back is 20K while the walls (also referenced as sides) are made in 12K pure gold whereas the gold surrounding polkies is pure 24K.
- 24K front / 18K hallmark: Here, both the back and side are 18K and the front is still 24K pure. One might feel that we should go for hallmark only, but essentially it doesn't make much of a difference. Think of it this way: a hallmarked piece takes more gold to make and hence costs more. Polki is the same in both; so is the look, resale value and everything else.
- 24K front / 22K hallmark: Both the back and side are 22K pure while the front is 24K pure.
- 18K hallmark: Diamond jewellery and open setting style of jadau jewellery essentially involves setting the polkies without use of pure 24K gold that is a prominent feature in regular jadau jewellery. In layman terms, wherever there is gold - it will be 18K pure in such pieces.
- 14K hallmark: In such cases of diamond or open setting jewellery, wherever there is gold - it will be 14K pure.
- 24K front / 23K back: Thappa jewellery uses a gold foil of 23K purity on the back and has 24K i.e. pure gold on the front, just like jadau jewellery.
Polki:
Broadly speaking, there are 3 types of polki: Syndicate, Zimbabwe & Kilwas. While syndicate and zimbabwe are considered the best and lustrous ones, kilwas is a close second.
Do NOT confuse "syndicate" with "synthetic".
Synthetic polki would mean artificial polki (also known as billor or kundan or glass).
Syndicate, kilwas and zimbabwe are all 100% natural diamond polkies (uncut diamonds or flat diamonds or old-cut diamonds).
We hope that you found this information useful!
In case of any questions, please reach out to us - happy to help!