The Coin Cellar · Debasement Basement Tools
Scrap gold calculator: what your gold and silver jewelry is worth
At the gold price of $3,996.90 an ounce (Oct 24, 2026), 14K gold is worth $74.96 a gram at melt, 10K is worth $53.54 and 18K $96.38. Sterling silver is worth $1.61 a gram. That is melt value: the pure gold or silver inside, at today’s price. A buyer pays a percentage of it, so the offer will be lower. Enter each piece below, by karat or silver stamp, to see the melt value, the pure metal inside, and what a buyer’s cut takes off.
Scrap gold and silver calculator
What it is · weight in grams
80% is only an example. Offers vary widely, so ask each buyer for its percentage and put it here.
Weigh each karat separately, without stones, and only the gold or silver part of a watch. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Melt value · g
At melt, this is worth $1,592.93.
Mixed karats: weighed together and paid as 10K gold, this gold would be counted at $1,338.58 instead of $1,552.75, $214.17 less. Keep each karat in its own pile.
That is the ceiling, not the offer: the buyer’s percentage comes off first, like the store that advertises the price and adds a “handling fee” at the register.
How this is calculated
- 1. Pure metal = weight × fineness. Gold’s fineness is the karat divided by 24, so 14K is 14 ÷ 24 = 58.3% gold; 24K is counted as 99.9%. Silver’s is the stamped number in thousandths, so sterling (925) is 92.5% silver.
- 2. Melt value = pure metal in troy ounces × the spot price. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams; one pennyweight (dwt) is 1.55517384 grams, a twentieth of a troy ounce.
- 3. Gold filled is counted at the legal minimum: a 14K layer that is 1/20 of the item’s weight, so 2.9% gold. Plated items are counted as zero.
- 4. The offer line multiplies the melt value by the percentage you enter. The mixed-karat line prices all your gold at the lowest karat in the list, the way a buyer would if the pieces were weighed together.
Limits: real jewelry can sit a few thousandths below or above its stamp, and solder lowers the gold content slightly; stones, springs and clasps of other metals add weight but no value; and the spot price is an aggregator’s indicative figure, not a dealer’s quote. This shows melt value only. It isn’t an appraisal.
Sources: the legal meanings of karat marks, gold filled and gold plate, FTC Jewelry Guides, 16 CFR 23.3; vermeil, 23.4; sterling and coin silver, 23.5. UK hallmarking rules from the government’s hallmarking guidance notes and the Hallmarking Act 1973, Schedule 1. Selling tips from the Better Business Bureau. Spot price from gold-api.com, refreshed about every 20 minutes, with a stored price from metalcharts.org if the lookup fails. Data updated October 2026.
Gold and silver price per gram, by karat
Melt value of one gram, one pennyweight and one troy ounce of each common grade, at $3,996.90 gold and $54.05 silver (Oct 24, 2026). The table updates with the price, in the currency you pick above the calculator.
| Grade | Per gram | Per dwt | Per troy oz |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24K, 24ct (999) | $128.37 | $199.65 | $3,992.90 |
| 22K, 22ct (916) | $117.79 | $183.19 | $3,663.82 |
| 18K, 18ct (750) | $96.38 | $149.88 | $2,997.68 |
| 14K, 14ct (585) | $74.96 | $116.58 | $2,331.53 |
| 10K, 10ct (417) | $53.54 | $83.27 | $1,665.38 |
| 9K, 9ct (375) | $48.19 | $74.94 | $1,498.84 |
| 8K (333) | $42.83 | $66.61 | $1,332.30 |
| Gold filled, 1/20 14K | $3.75 | $5.83 | $116.58 |
| Fine silver (999) | $1.74 | $2.70 | $54.00 |
| Britannia (958) | $1.66 | $2.59 | $51.78 |
| Sterling (925) | $1.61 | $2.50 | $50.00 |
| Coin silver (900) | $1.56 | $2.43 | $48.64 |
| 835 silver | $1.45 | $2.26 | $45.13 |
| 800 silver | $1.39 | $2.16 | $43.24 |
Worked examples
At $3,996.90 gold and $54.05 silver, the stored price of Oct 24, 2026. The calculator above uses the latest price.
- A 10 gram 14K chain: 5.83 g of pure gold, worth $749.60 at melt. A buyer paying 80% offers $599.68.
- A 15 gram 10K class ring, with the stone taken out: 6.25 g of pure gold, $803.15 at melt.
- The chain and the ring weighed together and paid as 10K: $1,338.58 instead of $1,552.75. Sorting them first is worth $214.17.
- A 25 gram sterling bracelet: 23.13 g of pure silver, $49.28 at melt. Silver jewelry is mostly worth more as jewelry than as metal.
What do 10K, 14K, 585 and 925 mean?
They say how much of the piece is gold or silver. Karats count in twenty-fourths, so 14K gold is 14 parts gold and 10 parts other metals, usually copper, silver and zinc, which make it harder and change its color. European-style stamps give the same thing in thousandths: 585 is 14K, 750 is 18K. Silver is always stamped in thousandths, and sterling is 925.
| Stamp | What it means | Metal content |
|---|---|---|
| 24K, 999 | Pure gold | 99.9% |
| 22K, 916 | Common in India and the Middle East | 91.7% |
| 18K, 750 | Fine jewelry, especially European | 75% |
| 14K, 585 | The most common US gold jewelry | 58.3% (585 rounds up) |
| 10K, 417 | The lowest common US karat; class rings | 41.7% |
| 9K, 375 | Common in the UK and Australia | 37.5% |
| GF, 1/20 14K GF | Gold filled: a gold layer bonded to base metal | About 2.9% gold, at the legal minimum |
| RGP, 1/40 | Rolled gold plate: a thinner layer | Half of gold filled |
| GP, GEP, HGE | Gold plated, electroplated, heavy electroplate | A coat millionths of an inch thick |
| 925, Sterling, Ster. | Sterling silver | 92.5% silver |
| 900, Coin | Coin silver, common on old American spoons | 90% silver |
| 800, 835 | Older European silver | 80%, 83.5% |
| EPNS, Silverplate | Electroplated nickel silver: no silver inside | A thin coat only |
| Vermeil | Sterling silver plated with gold | Worth it for the silver |
A stamp is a claim, not proof: a fake can carry any number it likes. If a piece is stamped 14K but sticks to a magnet or shows another color where it has worn, the guide to telling if gold is real walks through the home tests, and a buyer will test it either way. For UK hallmarks, the old US half-karat allowance and every other mark, see gold and silver stamps explained.
Is gold filled or gold plated jewelry worth anything?
Gold filled is worth a little; gold plated is worth almost nothing as metal. Under the FTC’s rules, “gold filled” means a layer of at least 10K gold making up at least 1/20 of the item’s metal weight. So a 20 gram gold filled bracelet may hold as little as one gram of 14K, the same gold as a single gram of solid 14K, $74.96 at the price above. Gold electroplate need only be 0.175 microns thick, and “heavy” electroplate 2.5 microns, many times thinner than a human hair. Refiners do buy gold filled scrap in bulk, at a steep discount; plated pieces are usually not worth the trip.
Silver works the same way. Anything marked EPNS or silverplate is nickel silver, a copper and nickel alloy with no silver in it, under a thin coat. The family “silver” set is often this, which is why a sterling set and a plated set can look alike at dinner and land on different planets at the scrap counter.
How much will a gold buyer actually pay?
Less than melt value, always, because the buyer has to refine the metal and make a living. There is no standard percentage, and offers for the same piece vary widely. The Better Business Bureau’s advice for sellers comes down to four habits, and the calculator is built around them:
- Sort by karat. Some buyers weigh everything together and pay for the lowest karat. The warning on the card shows what that would cost you.
- Know the melt value first, piece by piece, so you can judge an offer.
- Get several quotes, and ask each buyer what percentage of melt it pays and whether a refining charge comes off.
- Check the unit. Prices per pennyweight look bigger than prices per gram, because a pennyweight is 1.555 grams. Switch the calculator to dwt to compare like with like.
And before you sell anything for scrap, ask whether it is worth more as itself. Signed designer pieces, antiques and complete sterling flatware sets in a known pattern can sell for well above melt. Melt value is the floor under a piece, not its price. The guide to where to sell gold and silver compares coin shops, pawn shops, online buyers and marketplaces.
How to weigh jewelry at home
A digital kitchen or pocket scale that reads to 0.1 gram is enough for an estimate; a buyer will weigh again on a certified scale. Weigh each karat separately. Take out stones where you can, or subtract their weight. For a watch, only the case and a gold band count: the movement, crystal and any steel parts are worth nothing as gold. For sterling knives, weigh only the blade if it is marked sterling, because hollow sterling handles are usually filled with a cement-like compound that adds weight but no silver.
Outside the US
The arithmetic is the same everywhere, and the calculator shows prices in pounds, euros, Swiss francs, rand, pesos and Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars: pick yours under the items. What differs is the vocabulary. In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, gold purity is written in carats, “9ct” or “18ct”, which mean exactly what 9K and 18K mean, and 9ct (375) is the everyday jewelry gold there.
In the UK, the hallmark is the law, not a courtesy. Under the Hallmarking Act 1973, gold weighing 1 gram or more and silver weighing 7.78 grams or more can’t be sold as gold or silver unless an assay office has tested and hallmarked it, so a UK hallmark is far stronger evidence than a stamp from anywhere else. Pieces made before 1950 have an exception if the seller can prove their age and fineness. In the US, Canada and Australia there is no compulsory independent test: the purity stamp is the maker’s own claim, and false marks are illegal but nobody checks before the piece goes on sale.
Questions people actually ask
How much is 14K gold worth per gram?
At the October 24, 2026 gold price of $3,996.90 an ounce, 14K gold was worth $74.96 a gram at melt. 14K is 58.3% gold, so its melt value per gram is the spot price divided by 31.1035, times 0.583. A buyer pays a percentage of that.
How much is 10K gold worth per gram?
At the October 24, 2026 gold price of $3,996.90 an ounce, 10K gold was worth $53.54 a gram at melt. 10K is 41.7% gold, the karat of most US class rings and the lowest common in US jewelry.
How do you calculate scrap gold value?
Multiply the weight in grams by the karat divided by 24, divide by 31.1035 to get troy ounces of pure gold, and multiply by the spot price. For 10 grams of 14K: 10 × 0.583 ÷ 31.1035 × the gold price.
What percentage of melt value do gold buyers pay?
There is no standard percentage, and offers for the same piece vary widely. Ask each buyer what percentage of melt it pays and whether a refining charge comes off, and get several quotes before you sell.
What does 585 mean on gold?
585 means 14K gold, about 58.5% pure gold, written in thousandths. 750 means 18K and 417 means 10K. 14 divided by 24 is 58.3%, and the 585 stamp rounds it up.
How much is sterling silver worth per gram?
At the October 24, 2026 silver price of $54.05 an ounce, sterling silver was worth $1.61 a gram at melt. Sterling is 92.5% silver. Pieces marked EPNS or silverplate have almost no silver in them.
Is gold filled jewelry worth anything?
A little. Gold filled means a gold layer of at least 10K making up at least 1/20 of the metal weight, so a piece holds only a few percent gold. Gold plated jewelry has a far thinner coat and is worth almost nothing as scrap.
What is a pennyweight in gold?
A pennyweight (dwt) is 1.555 grams, or a twentieth of a troy ounce. Jewelers and gold buyers often price in pennyweight, so check the unit before comparing offers: a price per dwt is about 1.56 times a price per gram for the same gold.
Should I sell gold jewelry for scrap or as jewelry?
Scrap value is the floor, not the ceiling. Signed designer pieces, antiques and complete sterling flatware sets can be worth more than their metal, so check what similar pieces have sold for before selling by weight.