Gold Calculator

To calculate the value of any gold item, you need three things: the weight (in grams is easiest), the karat (which tells you what fraction of the item is pure gold), and the current posted spot price (refreshed sitewide on a schedule). Enter the weight and karat above, and the calculator does the math.

The result is the melt value — the worth of the pure gold content in your item at the current market price. This is the number gold buyers use as their starting point when making an offer. It's not what you'll be paid (buyers take a margin), but it's the number that tells you whether an offer is in the right ballpark.

A typical men's 14K gold wedding band weighs about 5 grams. Here's how the calculation works at the current spot price of $5,019.18 per troy ounce:

The calculator gives you a melt value — the worth of the pure gold content in your item, based on weight, karat purity, and the current spot price. This is the standard way gold is valued in scrap and bullion transactions worldwide.

It does not account for gemstones, hollow construction, steel or base-metal clasps, or solder. If your piece has a large stone or is hollow, the actual gold may weigh less than what your scale reads. For most solid jewelry without significant stones, the calculator gives a close estimate.

Hollow gold jewelry is a common source of overestimates. Some bangles, hoop earrings, and puffed pendants are made from thin gold sheet formed into a hollow shape. They look substantial but can weigh a fraction of what a solid piece the same size would weigh. If you suspect your item is hollow (it feels light for its size, or sounds hollow when tapped), the weight you measure is still correct — the item just contains less gold than you might expect from its appearance.

Melt value is not the same as resale value. A scrap buyer will typically offer less than melt to cover refining costs and margin. On the other hand, designer jewelry (Tiffany, Cartier, David Yurman), antique pieces, or items with collectible appeal may be worth significantly more than melt to the right buyer. A signed Cartier bracelet sold for scrap is value destroyed — if you think your piece has value beyond the gold, get it appraised before selling for scrap.

For more on melt value, what it leaves out, and when it's not the right framework, see Gold Melt Value Explained.

Karat measures purity — it tells you how much of the item is actually gold. Pure gold is 24 karat. Everything lower means other metals (usually copper, silver, and zinc) are mixed in for strength, hardness, and color. The math is simple: divide the karat by 24 to get the gold fraction.

This matters directly for the calculator: a 14K item is 58.3% gold, while a 10K item is only 41.7% gold. That means a 14K piece contains about 40% more gold per gram than a 10K piece of the same weight — and the melt value reflects that difference.

10K has historically been the standard minimum karat in U.S. jewelry. Since the FTC's 2018 revision of its Jewelry Guides, below-10K gold (like 9K) can be sold in the U.S. with proper fineness disclosure, though it remains uncommon in practice. In the UK and parts of Europe, 9K (37.5%) is the standard entry point. 14K is the most common karat in American jewelry; 18K is standard in much of Europe and Asia; 22K is common in South Asian and Middle Eastern jewelry and in gold coins like the American Gold Eagle.

If you don't know your item's karat, look for a stamp — inside the ring band, near a clasp, on earring posts, or on the back of a pendant. You'll see either a karat stamp (10K, 14K, 18K) or a fineness number (417, 585, 750, 916, 999). Use our Gold Hallmark & Purity Lookup to decode any stamp you find. Not sure if the item is real gold at all? See how to tell if gold is real.

You need the weight in grams (or troy ounces, pennyweight, or kilograms — the calculator handles all of them). Grams is the most common unit for jewelry valuation and the easiest to work with.

For items over 10 grams (most chains, bracelets, heavy rings), a digital kitchen scale works well. Most kitchen scales are accurate to 1 gram, which is close enough for a useful estimate. A 15-gram chain measured at 15g is only $94.13 off from a reading of 16g at 14K — noticeable but not huge.

For lighter items (earrings, thin rings, small pendants), a jewelry scale accurate to 0.01 grams gives a much better result. These are the same type of scale gold buyers use, and they're widely available online for around $10–15.

Tips for accurate weighing: Weigh the item dry and clean. Remove it from any box or packaging. If the item has a large gemstone you can't remove, the calculator result will be somewhat higher than the actual gold value — the stone adds weight but isn't gold. For items with removable stones, weighing the gold setting alone is more accurate.

If you don't have a scale, the common items section below shows typical weights for rings, chains, bracelets, and earrings. These are rough averages — your item may weigh more or less depending on size, width, and construction — but they'll give you a starting estimate.

The melt value this calculator shows is the starting point, not the final number. Every buyer takes a cut to cover refining, testing, and profit. How much depends on the type of buyer:

These are general ranges, not guarantees. The single most useful thing you can do is calculate your melt value here, then get at least three quotes and compare each one as a percentage of that number. An offer of 75% from a local buyer may be better than 85% from a mail-in service once you factor in shipping risk, turnaround time, and convenience.

For a complete breakdown of buyer types, how to evaluate offers, and common selling mistakes to avoid, see our guide on how to sell gold jewelry.