Scrap Gold Calculator
Weight × karat × live gold price = your melt value. Enter what's in your hand — grams, pennyweight or ounces — and see exactly what a fair offer looks like before anyone quotes you.
Calculate Your Scrap Gold Value
Melt value is what the pure gold inside is worth at spot; the payout slider shows what different buyer types realistically pay against it.
Values in USD from the live 24K spot rate ($131.88/gram). Melt value = weight × purity × live per-gram rate; real offers depend on the buyer's payout percentage. Indicative only — not a dealing quote.
Scrap Gold Prices by Karat — Per Gram, Pennyweight & Troy Ounce
Full melt values (100% of pure content) at the live rate. Multiply by your buyer's payout percentage for the realistic cash figure:
| Karat | Fineness | Per Gram | Per dwt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24K | 999 | $131.88 | $205.10 |
| 22K | 916 | $120.89 | $188.01 |
| 21K | 875 | $115.40 | $179.46 |
| 18K | 750 | $98.91 | $153.82 |
| 14K | 585 | $76.93 | $119.64 |
| 10K | 417 | $54.95 | $85.46 |
| 9K | 375 | $49.46 | $76.91 |
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How Scrap Gold Value Is Calculated
scrap_value = weight × (karat ÷ 24) × live_gold_price_per_gram × payout%Worked example right now: a 10-gram 14K chain → 10 × 0.585 = 5.85 g pure gold → 5.85 × $131.88 = $771.51 melt value. A refiner paying 92% offers $709.79; a mall gold buyer at 65% offers $501.48. Same chain, $208.31 difference — which is why you compute melt first.
The per-gram rate comes from the same XAU/USD spot price behind every page on Goldify — see the gold price per gram page for the live figure in 100+ currencies, or the karat purity calculator for pure-content math in other units.
Getting the Best Price for Scrap Gold
Every scrap gold transaction is the same arithmetic wearing different clothes. The buyer weighs your items, assigns a purity, applies a per-gram (or per-pennyweight) rate, and keeps a margin. Your leverage is knowing all four numbers before they do: weigh your gold on a digital scale at home, read the karat stamps, run this calculator, and walk in knowing the melt value to the dollar. Offers below 60% of melt are easy to refuse when you know the number; refiners and bullion dealers routinely pay 90%+ for karat-stamped scrap.
Two traps to avoid: selling by pennyweight without converting (a "$45/dwt" offer sounds larger than the same "$29/gram"), and letting mixed-karat lots be weighed together at the lowest karat's rate — insist each purity is weighed separately. Stones, clasps and enamel are deducted from weight, which is fair; healthy scepticism about "testing fees" and "refining surcharges" is also fair. For coins and bars, premiums above melt may apply — check gold coin prices and gold bar prices before treating them as scrap.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate scrap gold value?
Scrap gold value = weight × purity × live per-gram gold price. Example: a 10-gram 14K ring contains 10 × 0.585 = 5.85 grams of pure gold; multiply that by the live 24K per-gram rate for the melt value. Buyers then pay a percentage of melt — typically 60–80% at gold-buying shops and 90–95% at refiners.
How much is 14K scrap gold worth per gram today?
14K scrap gold is worth $76.93 per gram in pure melt value today ($119.64 per pennyweight). A buyer paying 80% of melt would offer about $61.55 per gram.
How much do scrap gold buyers actually pay?
Typical payouts as a percentage of melt value: pawn shops 40–60%, mail-in and high-street gold buyers 60–80%, bullion dealers and refiners 90–95%. Anything below 60% is a poor offer for karat-stamped gold. Always compute the melt value first — this calculator does it — so you can judge any offer instantly.
What is a pennyweight (dwt) of gold?
A pennyweight (dwt) is 1.55517 grams — 1/20 of a troy ounce. US scrap gold buyers often quote prices per dwt because the numbers look bigger than per-gram quotes. To compare offers, convert: price per dwt ÷ 1.55517 = price per gram.
What counts as scrap gold?
Any gold item valued for its metal rather than its craftsmanship: broken chains and bracelets, single earrings, out-of-fashion rings, dental gold, class rings, damaged watch cases and coins with no collectible premium. Karat stamps (10K, 14K, 18K, 22K, 916, 750, 585) tell you the purity; unmarked items should be acid- or XRF-tested before selling.
Is scrap gold worth the spot price?
No. The spot price applies to pure 24K gold, and no buyer pays 100% of melt for scrap — refining, testing and margin come out of the offer. A realistic expectation is 70–95% of the pure-content value depending on the buyer. Jewellery also weighs less pure gold than its total weight: a 14K piece is only 58.5% gold.
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