🥇 Gold Calculator
Work out what gold is worth from its weight and karat purity. Enter today's spot price and you get the pure metal value, plus a realistic range of what a dealer would actually pay for scrap.
What gold is worth, and what someone will actually pay
Gold has two prices. The melt value is what the metal inside a piece is worth at the current spot price, which is pure arithmetic. What a buyer offers is a different number, and the gap between them is where most of the surprise in selling scrap gold lives.
melt value = weight in grams × purity × (spot price / 31.1035)
Spot is quoted per troy ounce, which is 31.1035 grams, not the 28.35 of an ordinary ounce. Using the wrong ounce overstates the value by about 10%, and it is the single most common error in home valuations.
Karat and purity
| Mark | Parts gold | Purity | Common use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24k | 24/24 | 99.9% | Bullion, investment bars |
| 22k | 22/24 | 91.7% | Indian and Middle Eastern jewellery, coins |
| 21k | 21/24 | 87.5% | Gulf states jewellery |
| 18k | 18/24 | 75.0% | Fine jewellery in Europe and the US |
| 14k | 14/24 | 58.3% | Most US jewellery |
| 10k | 10/24 | 41.7% | Budget US jewellery, the legal minimum there |
| 9k | 9/24 | 37.5% | Common in the UK, not legal as gold in the US |
European pieces often carry a millesimal mark instead: 750 for 18k, 585 for 14k, 375 for 9k. The number is parts per thousand, so 750 means 75% gold. A piece marked 925 is sterling silver, not gold, however yellow it looks.
Weight units
| Unit | Grams | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Gram | 1 | The standard everywhere except bullion markets |
| Troy ounce | 31.1035 | What spot price is quoted in |
| Ounce (avoirdupois) | 28.3495 | The kitchen-scale ounce; never used for gold |
| Pennyweight (dwt) | 1.5552 | Still used by some US buyers, 1/20 troy ounce |
| Tola | 11.6638 | South Asia and the Middle East |
A buyer quoting per pennyweight rather than per gram is not necessarily cheating, but the number looks twenty times better than it is. Always convert to a price per gram before comparing offers.
What a buyer pays
Nobody pays melt value for scrap, because the buyer has to refine, assay and carry the metal, and wants a margin. Realistic ranges:
| Buyer | Share of melt |
|---|---|
| Refinery, large quantities | 95–98% |
| Reputable gold dealer | 80–90% |
| High street jeweller | 70–85% |
| Mail-in gold buyer | 50–75% |
| Pawnshop | 40–70% |
Get at least three offers and know your melt value before walking in. A piece worth $1,600 of gold will attract offers anywhere from $650 to $1,440 depending entirely on who you ask, and the difference is not explained by anything about the gold.
When the piece is worth more than its gold
Melting is irreversible. Antique, signed, hallmarked and designer pieces routinely sell for several times their metal value, and gemstones are valued separately and are usually not included in a scrap offer at all. Before selling anything old or branded by weight, get it looked at as jewellery. A Victorian locket worth $400 of gold might be worth $1,800 as a locket.
A worked example
A 25 g 18k chain with spot at $2,650 per troy ounce. Pure gold content is 25 × 0.75 = 18.75 g. The price per gram is 2,650 / 31.1035 = $85.20. Melt value is 18.75 × 85.20 = $1,597. A good dealer offers $1,280 to $1,440; a pawnshop might offer $640. Knowing the $1,597 figure before you walk in is worth several hundred dollars.
If the number here raised another question, it is probably one of these: the conversion calculator or the percentage calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I calculate the value of my gold?
Weigh it in grams, multiply by the purity for its karat, then multiply by the spot price per gram, which is the quoted price per troy ounce divided by 31.1035. That gives the melt value, which is the ceiling rather than the offer.
What is the difference between a troy ounce and a normal ounce?
A troy ounce is 31.1035 g and an ordinary avoirdupois ounce is 28.3495 g, about 10% lighter. Precious metals are always quoted in troy ounces, so using a kitchen scale's ounces overstates the value by roughly a tenth.
How much will a pawnshop pay for gold?
Typically 40% to 70% of melt value, sometimes less. A dedicated gold dealer usually offers 80% to 90%. Getting three quotes is worth doing: the spread on the same piece is routinely double.
What do the numbers stamped on jewellery mean?
Either karat (24k, 18k, 14k, 9k) or millesimal fineness in parts per thousand (999, 750, 585, 375). A 750 mark is 18k. A 925 mark is sterling silver, not gold, which catches people out regularly.
Should I melt old jewellery?
Not before someone has valued it as jewellery. Antique, designer and hallmarked pieces often sell for multiples of their metal value, and melting is irreversible. Gemstones are usually excluded from scrap offers entirely.
Does this calculator use live gold prices?
No, you enter the spot price yourself. That keeps the page working offline and avoids tying your valuation to whatever a feed happened to return. Look up the current figure from any financial site before calculating.