Gold value calculator
This calculator tells you what the gold, silver, platinum or palladium in something is worth at today's US dollar spot price, which is its melt value. Type in the weight, pick the unit and the purity, and the answer changes as you go.
What is the gold price per gram by karat?
A gram of gold is only worth as much as the gold inside it. A gram of 24 karat is all gold; a gram of 10 karat is less than half gold, and the rest is cheaper metal. Here's what one gram is worth at each common purity, at the spot price.
| Purity | Gold content | Per gram | Per pennyweight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 karat | 100.0% | US$132.39 | US$205.89 |
| 22 karat | 91.7% | US$121.36 | US$188.73 |
| 18 karat | 75.0% | US$99.29 | US$154.42 |
| 14 karat | 58.3% | US$77.23 | US$120.10 |
| 10 karat | 41.7% | US$55.16 | US$85.79 |
| 9 karat | 37.5% | US$49.65 | US$77.21 |
What is the silver price per gram?
Silver works the same way. Take the spot price per troy ounce, divide by 31.1 and you've got a gram of fine silver. A sterling spoon or an old coin is worth a bit less per gram, because some of its weight is copper.
| Purity | Per gram | Per troy ounce |
|---|---|---|
| Fine silver (.999) | US$1.69 | US$52.66 |
| Sterling silver (.925) | US$1.57 | US$48.76 |
| Coin silver (.900) | US$1.53 | US$47.44 |
How is melt value worked out?
Melt value is the weight of pure metal times the spot price. Say you've got a 10-gram 18 karat chain. Eighteen parts in 24 are gold, so the chain holds 7.5 grams of pure gold. Divide 7.5 by 31.1034768, the grams in a troy ounce, and you get about 0.241 ounces. At US$4,000 an ounce, that's roughly US$965 of gold.
The calculator does exactly those steps. Pennyweights and kilograms are turned into grams first, so you can use whatever your scale or receipt says.
What do karats mean?
Karats count gold in 24ths. Fine gold is 24 karat, and US Federal Trade Commission rules treat 12 karat as half the gold of 24 karat. So an 18 karat ring is 75% gold, 14 karat about 58.3% and 10 karat about 41.7%. The rest is usually silver, copper or zinc, which make the metal tougher and shift its colour.
Silver is marked in thousandths instead. The FTC's silver rules only let a seller call something sterling if it's at least 925/1,000ths silver. Coin silver needs 900/1,000ths.
What is a troy ounce?
Precious metals are priced by the troy ounce, which is exactly 31.1034768 grams. Your kitchen scale's ounce is lighter, about 28.35 grams, so mixing them up undervalues gold by roughly a tenth. Jewellers also use the pennyweight, one-twentieth of a troy ounce or about 1.555 grams. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology lists all three.
Why will a buyer pay less than melt value?
Because they have costs, and you don't see them in the spot price. A dealer has to test the metal, send it for refining and still make money, so the offer comes in under melt value. It's worth getting more than one quote.
Melt value can also sell an item short. A signed piece, an antique or a ring with good stones may be worth more than its metal. The spot prices here come from the same feed as our metal prices page and refresh every minute while the markets are open. Interested in the miners rather than the metal? See our gold stocks and silver stocks lists.
Gold value calculator: frequently asked questions
How do I work out how much my gold is worth?
Weigh it, find the karat stamp, and multiply the grams by the gold content and the spot price per gram. A 10-gram 14 karat ring holds 10 x 14/24, about 5.83 grams of pure gold. That's its melt value at whatever gold trades for today.
What does 14 karat or 18 karat mean?
It's the share of gold in 24 parts. Fine gold is 24 karat, so 18 karat is 18 parts gold out of 24, or 75%, and 14 karat is about 58.3%. US Federal Trade Commission rules treat 12 karat as half the gold of 24 karat.
What is a troy ounce?
It's the ounce precious metals are priced in, and it weighs exactly 31.1034768 grams. That's about 10% heavier than the ordinary ounce on a kitchen scale, which is roughly 28.35 grams.
Will a buyer pay me the melt value?
Probably not the full amount. A dealer or refiner has to test the metal, refine it and make a living, so their offer usually lands below melt value. How far below depends on the buyer, so it pays to ask more than one.
What is sterling silver?
Sterling is silver that's at least 92.5% pure. In the US, the FTC only allows the word sterling on items that are at least 925/1,000ths silver. Coin silver has to be at least 900/1,000ths.
Sources
- NIST Special Publication 811, Appendix B.9: Conversion factors (mass)
- US Code of Federal Regulations, 16 CFR 23.3: Misuse of the terms gold and karat
- US Code of Federal Regulations, 16 CFR 23.5: Silver content
- Spot prices: gold-api.com real-time price feed.
Information only. Melt values are estimates at the spot price and are not an offer to buy or sell.