Goldpreis and Scrap Gold Value in Germany

333 gold is one third pure - 8 karat - and it is a genuinely German phenomenon. It is legal to sell as gold in Germany, whereas the United States sets its floor at 10K (417) and the United Kingdom at 9ct (375).

That matters when you inherit or import. A 333 piece is real gold with real melt value, but roughly a third of a 999 gram, and an American or British buyer may decline it outright rather than price it. Calculate it as 0.333 fine and expect a narrower market.

German jewellery is marked with millesimal fineness in a small rectangle: 333, 585, 750, 900, 916 or 999. A karat number is unusual. Older pieces may carry the imperial crown and crescent moon mark used from 1888, which indicates German origin and assay rather than fineness on its own.

Watch for “Doublé” and “vergoldet” - the German terms for rolled gold and gold plated. Like GP and RGP elsewhere, they mean surface gold over base metal and carry essentially no melt value.

Investment gold - bars and coins meeting the fineness and form conditions set out in the EU VAT Directive - is exempt from VAT across the European Union, Germany included. That exemption is why Krugerrands and 999 bars trade close to metal value.

Jewellery is not investment gold and carries the standard German VAT rate when bought new. Selling your own scrap as a private individual is not a taxable supply, so no VAT should be deducted from what you are paid.

The German scrap trade quotes per gram by fineness, and the good operators publish their Ankaufspreis openly by fineness band. That transparency makes comparison easier than in many markets - collect two or three published rates before you go.

The usual rules still apply: sort by fineness before weighing so a 750 piece is not priced at 333, weigh at home first, and treat any percentage claim as meaningless until it is expressed in euros for your actual weight.