Gold Calculator

Gold melt value is the raw worth of the pure gold content in any item — a ring, a chain, a bracelet, dental gold, or a coin. The calculation is simple: convert the weight to troy ounces, multiply by the karat purity, and multiply by the current gold spot price. This calculator does all three steps automatically.

For example, if you have a 14K gold necklace that weighs 20 grams, the pure gold content is 20 × 0.5833 = 11.67 grams. Converting to troy ounces: 11.67 ÷ 31.1035 = 0.3752 oz t. At a spot price of — per troy ounce, the melt value is approximately —. That's the starting point for any negotiation with a buyer. For live per-gram figures and pawn shop payout ranges, see the 14K gold price page.

Gold Calculator by Karat

Different karats have different melt values because each karat is a different percentage of pure gold. Use the gold calculator above with the karat selector, or reference per-karat details below. Per-gram prices update automatically with live spot prices.

24K Gold Calculator: Price Per Gram

24 karat gold is 99.9% pure gold with no significant alloy content. The gold price per gram for 24K is — at today's spot price. 24K is the standard for bullion bars and most modern gold coins like the American Gold Buffalo. Pure gold is soft and rarely used in everyday jewelry because it scratches and bends easily.

22K Gold Calculator: Price Per Gram

22 karat gold is 91.67% pure gold, with the remaining 8.33% typically copper or silver for durability. The gold price per gram for 22K is — at today's spot price. American Gold Eagles, Krugerrands, and traditional high-karat jewelry common in India and the Middle East use 22K.

18K Gold Calculator: Price Per Gram

18 karat gold is 75% pure gold, stamped "750" inside the band or clasp. The gold price per gram for 18K is — at today's spot price. 18K is the most popular karat for fine jewelry worldwide because it holds detail well and retains a rich gold color while being more durable than 22K or 24K.

14K Gold Calculator: Price Per Gram

14 karat gold is 58.33% pure gold, stamped "585." The gold price per gram for 14K is — at today's spot price. 14K is the most common karat in US jewelry because it balances gold content with durability and affordability. Most engagement rings, chains, and bracelets sold in the US are 14K.

10K Gold Calculator: Price Per Gram

10 karat gold is 41.67% pure gold, stamped "417." The gold price per gram for 10K is — at today's spot price. 10K is the minimum karat that can legally be marketed as "gold" in the United States. Class rings, costume-grade fine jewelry, and budget pieces are often 10K.

Other karats appear in older or international jewelry. 12K gold is 50% pure (stamped "500") and shows up in some European and older American pieces. 9K gold is 37.5% pure (stamped "375"), common in UK and Australian jewelry. 8K gold is 33.33% pure (stamped "333"), found in German and Italian jewelry but not legally "gold" in the US. The gold calculator above handles all of these karats, plus a custom purity option for unusual alloys.

Gold Price Per Gram, Pennyweight, and Troy Ounce

Gold trades in three weight units depending on context. Per gram is the most common reference for scrap gold and jewelry sellers. Per pennyweight (dwt) is used by jewelers, pawn shops, and refiners. Per troy ounce is the global spot price quoted on COMEX and used for bullion. The price table above shows all three for every karat. Use the gold calculator at the top of the page to convert your weight to any unit and apply the karat purity automatically.

Gold Price Per Pennyweight (DWT)

A pennyweight is 1.555 grams, or 1/20 of a troy ounce. At today's spot price, pure 24K gold is worth — per pennyweight, and 14K gold is worth — per pennyweight. Most US pawn shops and jewelers weigh gold in pennyweights when making offers, so converting your gram weight to pennyweights helps verify their math.

What Dealers Pay vs. Melt Value

No dealer pays 100% of melt. Everyone between you and a refinery has costs: testing, refining, shipping, insurance, and their own margin. That gap is the business, and it is not personal.

What is worth your attention is how big the gap gets, and that depends far more on which buyer you walk up to than on what you are holding. Even the strongest buyers in this trade pay 70–80% of melt on jewelry, and it falls off quickly from there. The same chain can bring double at one buyer versus another, and the difference has almost nothing to do with how well you negotiate.

What Different Buyers Pay

It comes down to each buyer's business model and how far they sit from a refinery.

• Pawn shops: around 50% of melt at best, and often well below. The fastest way to turn gold into cash and the lowest price. Most of their business is tools, electronics, and general merchandise, so gold is a sideline, and the offer has to cover overhead that has nothing to do with metal. They are also pricing for the chance you come back to redeem it.
• Jewelry stores: highly variable. A store may pay well for a piece it can clean up and resell as jewelry, and poorly for anything it would scrap. Brand, design, and condition matter here in a way they matter nowhere else on this list.
• Coin and bullion dealers: mixed on jewelry. Recognized coins and bars resell as-is without refining, so those sit in their normal inventory and scrap jewelry does not. Expect less interest in a broken chain than a specialist buyer would show.
• Specialist and mail-in gold buyers: roughly 70–80% of melt, and 80 is a strong offer. Precious metals are the whole business. They refine or broker directly and carry less overhead than a storefront, so they can pay more for the identical chain. This is the top of the market for ordinary scrap jewelry.
• Refiners: higher on paper, and out of reach for most sellers. They sit at the end of the chain, so nobody takes a margin ahead of them. Collecting their rate is the hard part. Most refiners set minimum lot sizes measured in troy ounces or kilograms, and they will not open an account for one ring. Assay fees, lot charges, and refining costs come off the top, which barely register on a large lot and swallow a small one whole. Settlement runs weeks, not the same day. If you are holding a chain and a couple of rings, the refiner rate is a number you can read about but not get. A specialist buyer who aggregates lots is how an individual reaches refinery-adjacent pricing without a refinery-sized pile.

Be careful with the payout percentages published elsewhere. Most of them come from buyers describing their own generosity, which is why you will see ranges topping out at 90 or 95. Those are advertisements. On the ground, 70 to 80 is what the strong buyers actually pay for jewelry, and the shape of the list above is the useful part: the more of a buyer's business is precious metals, and the closer they sit to a refinery, the more they can pay for the same gold.

An Advertised Percentage Is Not an Offer

You will see buyers advertising "up to 95% of melt." Read that as marketing, not as a number you are going to be paid. "Up to" describes a best case, and the best case is usually bullion, not the 10K class ring in your drawer. The rate that gets advertised and the rate that gets offered are two different rates.

It helps to know the ceiling. Even the strongest buyers in this trade pay 70 to 80% of melt on jewelry, so an advertised number well above that is a claim about the buyer's marketing department, not about your gold. Nobody is paying 95% for a scrap chain and staying in business.

The pattern worth knowing: a high headline number gets you to mail the package, and the real offer arrives after your gold is already in someone else's building. At that point saying no means asking for it back and waiting, and plenty of people take the number rather than start over. The advertising did its job before anyone weighed anything.

So before you ship anything, get a figure in dollars for your specific item, in writing, based on your weight and karat. Ask what happens if you decline, who pays return shipping, and how long it takes. A buyer who will not put a number on your gold before it leaves your house has told you something useful about how the rest of it will go.

The melt value above is what makes that conversation possible. Once you know the real number, any offer is just a percentage you can accept or walk away from. Get quotes from at least three buyers and compare every one against it.

How to Weigh Gold at Home

Use a digital kitchen scale that reads in grams (most do). For more precision, use a jeweler's scale that reads to 0.01 grams — available for under $20. Remove any non-gold components (clasps, stones, non-gold findings) before weighing if possible. If you're weighing multiple items, separate them by karat. A 14K chain and a 10K ring have different melt values per gram and should be calculated separately.

How to Test Gold Purity

The easiest method is to look for the karat stamp. If there's no stamp, you have several options: a magnet test (gold is not magnetic), an acid test kit ($10–$20, uses nitric acid to test different karats), or an electronic gold tester (more expensive but non-destructive). Jewelers and coin dealers can test your items for free or a small fee. When in doubt, assume the lowest likely karat to avoid overestimating.

For gold coins, visit our US gold coin melt values page for a complete table with every coin type. See the current gold price per gram for each karat, or return to the melt value calculator homepage.