What is the cost of gold per gram right now, from 10K to 24K?
Gold spot right now: — per troy ounce. A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, and each karat is a fixed purity, those two constants never change, so the live spot price is the only moving part in every figure below.
| Karat stamp | Pure gold content | Melt value per gram | Melt value per pennyweight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10K (stamped 417) | 41.7% | — | — |
| 14K (stamped 585) | 58.5% | — | — |
| 18K (stamped 750) | 75.0% | — | — |
| 22K (stamped 917) | 91.7% | — | — |
| 24K (stamped 999) | 99.9% | — | — |
Pennyweights matter because many US buyers quote in them, a pennyweight (dwt) is 1/20 of a troy ounce, about 1.555 grams. A quote that sounds higher "per dwt" than another quote "per gram" can still be the worse offer; the table gives you both units from the same live price so the comparison is honest.
How do I turn my scale reading into a melt value?
Say a broken 14K chain weighs 21.4 grams on your kitchen scale. Multiply 21.4 by the live 14K per-gram figure in the table above and you have its melt value, the reference floor a fair offer is built from. That is the whole method: weight times the row that matches the stamp.
Weigh karats separately. A pile that mixes a 10K class ring into 14K chains and gets weighed together will be quoted at the lowest karat in the pile by a careless buyer. Sort by stamp first, weigh each group, and add the results, at our counters every piece is XRF-tested individually, so unmarked and mismarked pieces get credited at their true purity, not their stamp.
Stones, springs and clasps are not gold. A reputable buyer deducts non-gold weight before pricing, and heavy stones are removed and returned to you or valued separately. If a quote is built on the gross weight of a stone-set ring, the percentage being offered is not what it appears to be.
14kt scrap gold price per gram, and small vintage pieces
The 14kt scrap gold price per gram is the live per-gram rate times 0.585, since 14kt is 58.5 percent pure: right now that is about — per gram of 14kt in metal value.
Vintage gold charms and other small scrap
Vintage gold charms, single earrings, clasps and broken chain links all sell by the same gram math. Charms occasionally carry collector or designer value above melt, so we look before we weigh.
Weighed and sorted your gold? Bring it in as it is and watch every piece tested and priced in front of you.
Find your nearest of our 8 storesHow do I know what karat my gold is?
Look inside a ring band, on a chain's clasp tag, or on the back of a pendant for a tiny stamp: 10K, 14K, 18K, or the European millesimal marks 417, 585 and 750, which mean the same purities. Older and imported pieces sometimes carry 916 or 917 (22K, common in South Asian and Middle Eastern jewelry) or 999 (fine gold bars and rounds).
Two stamps that are not what they seem: "GF" or "1/20 12K GF" means gold-filled, a thin bonded layer over base metal with only a small fraction of the marked karat's value, and "GP", "HGE" or "gold tone" means plated, which carries no recoverable gold at all. An unmarked piece is not necessarily worthless; stamps wear off and older pieces never had them, which is exactly what the in-store XRF reading settles in about two minutes without marking the piece.
Is the per-gram value what I will actually be paid?
The table is the melt reference, and every real buyer works below it by a margin that covers refining, testing and the business itself. What separates buyers is the size of that margin and whether the arithmetic happens where you can see it. A buyer who hides the scale reading, quotes a lump sum for an unsorted pile, or will not name the spot price they are working from is making the margin invisible on purpose.
At our counters the scale faces you, the karat test happens in front of you, and the offer is shown as weight times purity times the live price minus a stated margin. Pieces with maker's marks, designer names or collector interest are priced above melt on that merit, melt is the floor an honest offer stands on, never a ceiling that signed or antique pieces are pushed down to.
Gold value per gram FAQs
How much is a gram of 14K gold worth?
Multiply the live gold spot price by 0.585 (the pure-gold fraction of 14K) and divide by 31.1035, the grams in a troy ounce. The 14K row on this page runs that formula against the live market and refreshes through the trading day.
How many grams (grammes) are in one ounce of gold?
A troy ounce, the unit gold trades in, is 31.1035 grams. That is heavier than the kitchen (avoirdupois) ounce of 28.35 grams, and mixing the two is one of the oldest tricks in a lowball quote. Every figure on this page uses the troy ounce.
What is a pennyweight and why do buyers quote in it?
A pennyweight (dwt) is 1/20 of a troy ounce, about 1.555 grams. It is a traditional US jewelry-trade unit, and because a per-dwt number is roughly 1.5 times the per-gram number for the same offer, quoting in dwt can make an offer sound larger. Convert both quotes to the same unit before comparing.
Is a 417, 585 or 750 stamp real gold?
Yes. Those are millesimal purity marks: 417 is 10K, 585 is 14K and 750 is 18K, marking the parts-per-thousand of pure gold. They are simply the European convention for the same purities as the karat stamps.
Is gold-filled or gold-plated jewelry worth anything?
Gold-filled pieces carry a thin bonded layer of real gold, typically a twentieth of the piece's weight at the marked karat, so heavy gold-filled lots have modest value in bulk. Plated pieces carry a microscopic layer that no buyer can economically recover, so they hold no scrap value.
Does a kitchen scale weigh accurately enough for gold?
For an estimate, yes: a scale reading to a tenth of a gram puts your figure within a few dollars on typical jewelry weights. Actual offers are made on certified scales at the counter, where you watch the reading yourself.
Should I sell broken gold jewelry or repair it first?
Sell it as it is. Melt value depends only on weight and purity, so a broken chain is worth the same per gram as an intact one, and repair costs almost never come back in the price. The exception is signed or designer pieces, which can be worth repairing or selling intact to a collector.
What karat is most scrap jewelry in the United States?
14K dominates American jewelry, with 10K common in class rings and men's pieces and 18K in finer and European jewelry. 22K appears mostly in South Asian and Middle Eastern pieces, which at 91.7 percent purity are worth checking against the table before accepting any quote.
Where can I sell scrap gold in Central New Jersey?
Cash 4 Gold Trading Post buys scrap gold at all 8 stores: Aberdeen, Brick, East Brunswick, Farmingdale, Manalapan, Middlesex, Millstone and New Brunswick. Every piece is XRF-tested and weighed in front of you, and accepted offers are paid the same day.
What do pawn brokers pay per gram for 14k gold?
Pawn brokers quote from the same live spot market as everyone else, but resale is not their core business, so their offers usually land toward the lower end of the payout range. 14K is 58.5 percent pure, and its live per-gram value is in the table above; our counters pay on that same reference, weight times purity times the live price, with the arithmetic in view.