What is My Gold Worth
If you have any scrap gold, you can sell it, but for how much? Gold prices tend to rise along with worries of war or inflation but before you bring gold jewelry, dental fillings, teeth, nuggets, and bars to a scrap gold dealer's counter (or send it off by mail) you should know exactly what it's worth. Most scrap gold dealers keep the calculation a secret. Here is their formula.
- Separate your scrap gold into their various karat fineness (i.e. 10k, 14k or 18k). You may need a magnifying glass to see the number inscribed on the piece. If not, you may need to have the gold tested by a reputable dealer. There's also the possibility that some of the gold is actually just gold-plated, which a dealer would determine with certainty by using a chemical test [2] If you're uncertain, read up on How to Tell if Gold Is Real.
You can also do your own acid test before sending off to the refiner. This acid and the stone can be purchased from jewelry suppliers online for a small price. For 14k items rub the item on the stone and place a drop of 14k acid onto the mark it leaves. If your item is 14k it will stand up to the acid and not change. If it is 10k the 14k acid will turn it brown. if it disappears it will not be gold. If it is an unmarked item then go up to the 18k acid and 22k until it turns brown therefore it will be the next lowest carat.
If you have any gold coins, they may have a numismatic (coin) value above their metal value, based on age, rarity, and condition. Take it to a coin dealer; you may be able to get more money that way.
- Determine the gram weight of each group by using a jewelers gram scale. Available online for less than $50. If you can only weigh by the ounce, convert to grams ).
- Determine today's price of gold. You can find this on the Internet[3], [4] or in your local newspaper. Fine gold as of this writing is about $900.00 per troy ounce. (A troy ounce equals 31.1 grams. This never changes.) The price of gold fluctuates according to supply and demand.
- Divide today's gold price by 31.1 to get today's gold price per gram.
- Multiply by the fineness of the gold. For each group of gold, divide the karat by 24, then multiply that number by today's gold price per gram. For example, if you have 10KT gold and the current price of gold is $28.94 per gram ($900.00 / 31.1), then the price of your scrap gold is $28.94 x .4167 = $12.06 per gram.
10KT = 10/24 = .4167
14KT = 14/24 = .5833
18KT = 18/24 = .750
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Multiply the price per gram by the weight in grams. If you have 10 grams of 10KT gold and you calculated the price at $12.06 per gram, then your scrap gold is worth 10 x $12.06 = $120.59.
