Gold Calculator
Estimate gold value by weight and karat, check gold price per gram, calculate scrap gold value, or enter your own spot price or buyer quote.
How This Gold Calculator Works
The calculator uses the same formula refiners and gold buyers use: convert the weight of your item to troy ounces, multiply by the karat purity ratio to get the fine gold content, then multiply by the gold spot price per troy ounce. Worked example: say you have a 10 gram 18K gold chain and the spot price is $3,400 per troy ounce. 10 g ÷ 31.1035 = 0.3215 troy ounces. 18K gold is 75% pure, so 0.3215 × 0.75 = 0.2411 ounces of fine gold. 0.2411 × $3,400 = about $820 of gold content. The live spot price refreshes every 60 seconds while the page is open. If you already have a quote from a dealer or want to model a different price, type it into the manual price field and the calculator will use your number instead. The dealer payout selector then shows what an offer at 90%, 80%, or 70% of melt value looks like.
Gold Purity by Karat: What the Stamps Mean
Karat measures how many parts out of 24 are pure gold. Jewelry is rarely pure gold, because 24K is too soft for daily wear, so it is alloyed with copper, silver, or zinc. That is why a 14K ring weighing the same as an 18K ring contains less gold and is worth less as metal. Most jewelry carries a hallmark stamp with the millesimal fineness instead of the karat: 750 means 75% gold (18K), 585 means 14K, 417 means 10K. Look inside ring bands, on clasp tags, and on the back of pendants. If a piece is stamped GP, GF, HGE, or “gold plated”, it only has a microscopic gold layer and has essentially no melt value.
Gold Weight Units: Troy Ounce, Gram, Pennyweight, Tola
The single most common mistake when valuing gold is mixing up unit systems. Gold spot prices are quoted per troy ounce (31.1035 grams), which is about 10% heavier than the everyday avoirdupois ounce (28.35 grams) your kitchen scale shows. This calculator converts between all of the units below automatically.
What Gold Buyers Actually Pay
The calculator shows melt value — the ceiling, not the offer. Every buyer deducts testing, refining, overhead, and margin. As a rule of thumb: specialist online gold buyers and refiners typically pay 85–95% of melt value, local jewelers and coin shops 70–90%, and pawn shops often 40–60%. If an offer is far below 70% of the number this calculator shows, get a second quote. Before selling: sort items by karat so a buyer cannot average everything down to the lowest purity, weigh everything yourself first, ask how gemstones and non-gold parts are handled, and get at least two or three written quotes. Use the payout selector above to see what a fair offer range looks like for your items.
How to Weigh Gold at Home
A pocket jewelry scale with 0.1 gram precision costs little and pays for itself the first time you sell. Calibrate it with the included weight, weigh each karat group separately, and write the numbers down before visiting a buyer. Remember that stones, glass, enamel, watch movements, and steel springs are not gold: buyers weigh and pay for recoverable metal, so a ring with a large stone will be quoted below its gross weight.
How to Check Gold Purity
Start with the hallmark, then sanity-check it. A strong magnet is a quick first filter — gold is not magnetic, so anything that snaps to a magnet is not solid gold (though passing the magnet test alone proves nothing). Acid test kits scratch-test each karat level and cost about as much as a pizza. Serious buyers use XRF analyzers, which read alloy composition in seconds without damaging the piece — if a buyer tests with XRF in front of you, that is a good sign.
Gold Purity Chart
24K = 99.9% fine gold (hallmark 999), used for bullion bars, maple leafs, britannias. 23K = 95.8% fine gold (hallmark 958), used for thai baht jewelry. 22K = 91.7% fine gold (hallmark 916), used for gold eagles, krugerrands, south asian jewelry. 21K = 87.5% fine gold (hallmark 875), used for middle eastern jewelry. 18K = 75.0% fine gold (hallmark 750), used for fine jewelry, luxury watches. 14K = 58.3% fine gold (hallmark 585 or 583), used for most us jewelry. 10K = 41.7% fine gold (hallmark 417), used for budget jewelry, class rings. 9K = 37.5% fine gold (hallmark 375), used for uk and australian jewelry. 8K = 33.3% fine gold (hallmark 333), used for german and european jewelry.
Gold Weight Unit Conversions
Troy ounce (ozt) = 31.1035 g. The unit gold spot prices are quoted in. Heavier than a kitchen ounce (28.35 g). Gram (g) = 1 g. The most common unit on jewelry scales worldwide. Pennyweight (dwt) = 1.5552 g. Used by US jewelers and pawn shops. 20 dwt = 1 troy ounce. Tola = 11.6638 g. Standard in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Baht = 15.244 g. Thai unit for 96.5% gold jewelry and bars. Kilogram (kg) = 1,000 g. Used for large bars. 1 kg = 32.1507 troy ounces.
How do I calculate the value of my gold?
Multiply the weight of your item in troy ounces by its purity ratio, then by the current gold spot price. For example, 20 grams of 14K gold is 20 ÷ 31.1035 × 0.583 = 0.375 troy ounces of fine gold; at a $3,400 spot price that is about $1,275 of gold content. This calculator does the conversion and math for you with live prices.
What do the numbers stamped on my jewelry mean?
They are millesimal fineness marks showing gold content in parts per thousand: 999 is 24K, 916 is 22K, 750 is 18K, 585 is 14K, and 417 is 10K. Marks like GP (gold plated), GF (gold filled), or HGE (heavy gold electroplate) mean the item is only coated with gold and has almost no melt value.
How much is a gram of gold worth?
Divide the spot price per troy ounce by 31.1035 to get the pure (24K) gram price, then multiply by purity for your karat. The live per-gram price for your selected currency is shown at the top of this page and refreshes every 60 seconds.
Why do buyers offer less than the calculator shows?
The calculator shows melt value — what the pure gold content is worth at market price. Buyers deduct refining costs, testing, overhead, resale risk, and profit margin. Reputable buyers typically pay 70–95% of melt value depending on the type of business; pawn shops usually pay less.
Do gemstones and clasps count toward the weight?
No. Buyers pay for recoverable gold only, so stones, glass, enamel, watch movements, and steel parts are excluded. If a piece has significant stones, buyers either deduct an estimated stone weight or remove the stones before weighing.
What is the difference between a troy ounce and a regular ounce?
A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams; the regular (avoirdupois) ounce on kitchen scales is 28.3495 grams. Gold is always priced in troy ounces. Using the wrong ounce inflates a valuation by about 10%.
How often does the gold price update?
The spot price on this page refreshes every 60 seconds from a live market data feed while the page is open. You can also type your own price into the manual price field to calculate against a dealer quote or a projected price.
Is this calculator free, and do you buy gold?
The calculator is completely free with no sign-up. We do not buy gold, sell gold, or take a commission — results are neutral informational estimates, which is exactly why they are useful for checking whether a buyer's offer is fair.