Gold Calculator

How to calculate the value of gold

Gold jewelry is an alloy, so only part of its weight is gold. Its melt value is the pure gold it contains, priced at the spot price:

purity          = karat ÷ 24         (24K is refined to 99.9%)
pure gold (g)   = weight (g) × purity
price per gram  = spot price per troy oz ÷ 31.1035
melt value      = pure gold (g) × price per gram

So a 14K gold bracelet weighing 10 grams holds 10 × 58.3% = 5.83 grams of pure gold, and is worth 5.83 times today's gold price per gram. That's the floor for what the gold is worth. A shop's price adds design, labor and margin on top, and a scrap buyer's offer usually sits below it.

How to use the gold calculator

1. 1

   Find the karat

   Look for a stamp on the clasp, inside a ring band or on a tag: 10K, 14K, 18K, or a fineness number like 585 or 750. Pick it in the karat menu.

2. 2

   Weigh the item

   Use a jewelry scale in grams if you can. Kitchen-scale ounces, troy ounces, pennyweight, kilograms and tola are all supported.

3. 3

   Subtract anything that isn't gold

   Stones, pearls and steel parts add weight but no gold. Enter their weight so they're left out of the value.

4. 4

   Read the melt value

   The calculator multiplies pure gold content by the live spot price. Add a price you were quoted to see how it compares.

Frequently asked questions

What is the gold price today?

The gold price at the top of this page is the live spot price for one troy ounce of pure (24K) gold, refreshed every minute. The spot price is what gold trades for on the wholesale market right now. Change the currency to see it in euros, pounds, rupees and 14 other currencies, along with the gold price per gram, per kilogram and per tola.

How do I calculate the value of my gold jewelry?

Multiply the item's weight in grams by its purity, then by the gold price per gram. A 10 gram 14K bracelet is 58.3% gold, so it holds about 5.83 grams of pure gold; multiply that by today's price per gram and you have its melt value. This gold calculator does it for you at the live gold price, and can subtract the weight of stones or other non-gold parts first.

What does karat mean, and how do I find it?

Karat measures how much of an alloy is gold, out of 24 parts. 24K is pure gold (refined to 99.9%), 18K is 75% gold, 14K is 58.3% and 10K is 41.7%; the rest is metals like silver, copper or zinc. Jewelry is usually stamped on the clasp, inside a ring band or on a tag. Outside the US the stamp is often a three-digit fineness number instead: 750 for 18K, 585 for 14K, 375 for 9K.

What is the difference between a troy ounce and a regular ounce?

Gold is priced per troy ounce, which is 31.1035 grams. A regular (avoirdupois) ounce, the one kitchen and postal scales use, is 28.3495 grams, about 9% lighter. If you weighed your item on a kitchen scale in ounces, pick 'Ounces (kitchen scale)' in the calculator so the conversion is right. A pennyweight (dwt), common with jewelers, is one-twentieth of a troy ounce.

Why is a store asking more than the melt value?

Melt value is only what the gold itself is worth. A retail price also covers the design, the craftsmanship, any stones, and the shop's costs and margin, so new jewelry almost always sells above melt. Enter the price you were quoted and the calculator shows how far above melt it is, which tells you how much you're paying for everything other than the metal.

How much will a buyer pay for my gold?

Buyers who refine or resell gold as scrap generally offer less than full melt value, since they have to cover refining costs and make a margin. How much less varies by buyer, karat and quantity, so we don't publish a single percentage. Use the melt value here as your reference point, enter each offer as the quoted price, and compare how close each one comes to it.

Does white gold or rose gold change the value?

No. White, yellow and rose gold of the same karat contain the same share of gold; only the other metals in the alloy change the color. A 14K white gold ring and a 14K yellow gold ring of the same weight have the same melt value. Rhodium plating on white gold doesn't add meaningful value.

Where does the gold price come from?

Prices come from Gold API (gold-api.com), a real-time precious-metals price feed, and are converted into the currency you pick. Each price shows the time it was last updated. If the feed stops responding, the tool keeps showing the last price it received and says so, rather than showing nothing.

Can I add this gold price to my website?

Yes. Scroll to 'Add a live gold price widget to your site', choose a currency and a light or dark theme, and copy the two-line embed code into your page. The widget updates itself every five minutes, needs no API key, and is free to use.