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GoldHub

Scrap Gold Calculator: What Your Gold Is Worth Today

Scrap is any gold sold for its metal content rather than as an object — broken chains, single earrings, bent rings, dental crowns, and anything past repair.

Based on a spot price of $4,125.39 per troy ounce, from swissquote.

What Scrap gold actually means

The calculation is the same as any karat page: weight, times purity, times the price of a gram of pure gold. What differs is that a scrap lot is usually mixed, and mixed lots have to be sorted by karat before anything can be quoted.

Sort your own pile before you go. A buyer handed an unsorted bag has to price defensively against the possibility that the heavy pieces are the low-karat ones. A pile already separated into 10K, 14K, and 18K removes that uncertainty, and removing uncertainty is what gets you a better number.

Weigh it too. Any kitchen scale that reads to 0.1g is enough to know whether the number you are quoted matches the weight you brought.

Stones, clasps, and spring rings are not gold and are not paid for. A buyer will usually deduct their weight — reasonably — so expect the paid weight to be slightly under what your scale says.
Every karat, per gram
Karat Gold content Stamp Per gram
24K 99.90% 999 $132.50
22K 91.67% 917 $121.59
21K 87.50% 875 $116.06
20K 83.33% 833 $110.52
18K 75.00% 750 $99.48
16K 66.67% 667 $88.43
14K 58.33% 585 $77.37
12K 50.00% 500 $66.32
10K 41.67% 417 $55.27
9K 37.50% 375 $49.74
Typical weights, if you have no scale
Item Usual weight
Thin chain (16–18in) 2 – 5 g
Medium chain (20in) 8 – 20 g
Heavy rope chain 25 – 60 g
Plain wedding band 2 – 8 g
Men's signet ring 6 – 15 g
Engagement ring (setting only) 2 – 5 g
Stud earrings (pair) 1 – 3 g
Hoop earrings (pair) 2 – 8 g
Charm bracelet 10 – 30 g
Pocket watch case 20 – 50 g
Dental crown 1 – 3 g

These are ranges because the real answer varies enormously — a wedding band can be 2g or 12g. Any kitchen scale that reads to 0.1g will beat every estimate on this table.

Other karats

24K $132.50 per gram 22K $121.59 per gram 18K $99.48 per gram 14K $77.37 per gram 10K $55.27 per gram 9K $49.74 per gram

Questions people ask

How do I work out what my scrap gold is worth?
Weigh it in grams, then multiply by the per-gram value for its karat. At the current spot price of $4,125.39 per troy ounce that is $77.37 per gram for 14K and $55.27 per gram for 10K. Weigh each karat separately - mixing them and using one rate is the commonest way people undercount a lot.
Do stones and clasps count toward the weight?
No. Only the gold is paid for. A buyer deducts the weight of stones, spring clasps and any non-gold pins before quoting, so a ring that weighs 6 grams on your scale may be 4 grams of actual metal. Weigh with the stones out where you can.
Will a gold buyer pay me this amount?
No, and any site implying otherwise is misleading you. This is the melt value - what the metal alone is worth at spot. Refining, testing and the buyer's margin all come out of it, so a real offer is a percentage of this figure. Treat it as the ceiling and get more than one quote.
How current is this price?
The calculation uses the live spot price, currently $4,125.39 per troy ounce from swissquote, read at 18:45 UTC. It is not a cached daily figure.

Where this price comes from

Live gold pricePrice per gramPrice per ounceRecorded price history

What a buyer will actually pay for it

What buyers pay, and what to refuseThe selling process, step by stepBroken jewellery and mixed lots

Further reading

These figures are the metal value at the current spot price, for information only. They are not an offer, and a dealer quote will always be below melt — refining, testing, and margin all come out of it. Nothing here is investment advice.