What gold jewelry and scrap do you buy?
Everything gold, in every condition. That is not a slogan; it follows from how scrap is priced. Scrap gold is bought for the metal inside it, so a broken chain carries exactly the same per-gram value as a perfect one of the same karat. The only questions that matter are what the piece is made of and what it weighs, and both are measured in front of you at the counter.
| What you have | What we look at | What to know before you come in |
|---|---|---|
| Chains and necklaces | Karat and weight; clasp checked separately | Rope, figaro, Cuban link, herringbone and box chains in any length. Heavy chains are the single most valuable category most sellers own |
| Rings | Karat and weight; stones assessed separately | Wedding bands, class rings, signet and cocktail rings. Stones are never weighed as gold, and diamonds are priced on their own merits |
| Bracelets and bangles | Karat and weight; sets kept together | Charm bracelets, link bracelets and high-karat bangles. South Asian 22K pieces carry the most gold per gram of anything wearable |
| Earrings and pendants | Karat and weight; pairs not required | Singles are fine. Small charms, medals and lockets add up faster than most people expect |
| Dental gold | XRF purity test on each piece | Crowns and bridges are usually solid 10K to 20K gold, not plated, and are bought exactly as they are |
| Broken and scrap gold | Purity and weight only, never condition | Snapped chains, bent rings, tangled knots, pieces missing stones. Full metal value, same per gram as intact pieces |
| Unmarked and foreign pieces | XRF reads the metal, not the stamp | No stamp, worn stamp or an unfamiliar foreign hallmark changes nothing. The test establishes the true purity |
The practical advice is simple: do not pre-sort at home. People routinely leave the most valuable piece in the drawer because it looked like costume jewelry, and just as routinely carry in a plated chain they were sure was solid. Testing is free and takes seconds per piece, so bring the whole box and let the analyzer make the call. Broken pieces get their own walkthrough on the broken gold page, and if your drawer holds silver, coins or a watch as well, one trip covers all of it through our gold buying service.
How much is my gold jewelry worth?
Three inputs set every honest scrap offer: the purity of the metal, its weight, and the live gold market price at the moment you sell. Nothing else moves the number. Not the brand of the clasp, not how shiny it is, not what you paid for it. That is why anyone quoting your jewelry a firm price over the phone, sight unseen, is guessing.
Purity is the input people know least about, and it is the biggest lever. The karat stamp tells you what fraction of the piece is actually gold; the rest is alloy that carries no precious metal value. Two chains of identical weight can differ enormously in value purely on karat.
| Karat stamp | European fineness | Gold purity | Commonly seen on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10K | 417 | 41.7% gold | Class rings, everyday chains, older American jewelry |
| 14K | 585 | 58.5% gold | Most U.S. rings, bracelets and chains |
| 18K | 750 | 75% gold | Designer jewelry and fine European pieces |
| 22K | 916 | 91.7% gold | South Asian and Middle Eastern jewelry |
| 24K | 999 | 99.9% gold | Bullion, some East Asian jewelry, pure investment gold |
| Plated or filled | GP, GEP, GF, RGP, HGE | Trace | Base metal under a thin gold layer, with little to no scrap value |
Weight is the second lever, and it is measured in grams on a state-certified scale you can see. A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, not the 28.35 grams of a kitchen ounce, and some buyers quote in pennyweight, where one pennyweight is 1.555 grams. We show the unit and the reading openly so there is never confusion about which measure a number refers to.
The third lever, the live market price, moves through the trading day, which is why our offers are calculated fresh at the counter rather than read off a printed buy sheet. The ticker at the top of this page shows the current market. When gold is up, your offer is up with it, on the same visit, with no need to negotiate for it.
How do I work out the melt value myself?
You do not have to take any buyer's word for what your gold is worth. Melt value follows one formula, and you can run it at your kitchen table with a gram scale and the karat stamp. Use a placeholder market price of $S per troy ounce and substitute the live number when you calculate:
Worked example. Say you have 15 grams of 14K jewelry, roughly a mid-weight chain or two average rings.
- Pure gold content: 15 grams × 0.585 = 8.775 grams of pure gold.
- Convert to troy ounces: 8.775 ÷ 31.1035 = 0.2821 troy ounces.
- Multiply by the market price: 0.2821 × $S is the melt value of that jewelry at that rate.
Swap the purity decimal to run it for any karat: 10K uses 0.417, 18K uses 0.750, 22K uses 0.917 and 24K uses 0.999. Mixed lots are run karat by karat, which is exactly how we do it at the counter: pieces are sorted by tested purity first, then each group is weighed separately, so 18K is never averaged down into a 14K pile.
If you would rather not do arithmetic, the gold calculator takes the karat and the weight in grams or pennyweight and applies the live market price for you. Treat the result as an estimate rather than a quote, for two reasons that both work in your favor: a home scale reads less precisely than a certified one, and the formula cannot see when a piece is worth more than its melt, which is the subject of the next section.
Weigh it, stamp-check it, then bring it in and watch the real test. Free, no appointment.
📞 Call (732) 483-4145When is jewelry worth more than its melt value?
Melt is the floor, not the ceiling. A meaningful share of what crosses our counter is worth more as a finished piece than as raw metal, and the difference between a careful buyer and a careless one is whether anyone checks before quoting. We check first, on every piece, and pay whichever figure is higher.
- Signed and designer pieces. Jewelry from known houses trades on its name and craftsmanship, not just its gram weight. An intact designer piece can outrun its melt value comfortably, which is exactly why it should never be tossed into a scrap pile unexamined.
- Antique and estate jewelry. Hand construction, period style and age give older pieces a collector market of their own. Filigree work, old settings and complete original suites are assessed as jewelry before melt is even calculated. Estate lots get their own process on the estate buyers page.
- Pieces with real stones. Diamonds and fine gemstones are never weighed as gold. The stones are evaluated on their own merits and the mounting is priced as metal, so you are paid for both parts rather than having the stone treated as dead weight.
- Complete sets and pairs. A matched suite or an intact pair can be worth more whole than as separated scrap, which is why the checklist below says to keep sets together.
This two-track valuation is the practical difference between a jewelry buyer and a scrap counter. If most of what you own is wearable rather than broken, the jewelry buyers page covers how finished pieces are valued in more depth. Either way, the rule at our counter does not change: the higher of the two figures is the offer.
How do you know what karat my jewelry really is?
Start with the hallmark. On rings it is inside the band; on chains and bracelets it is on or next to the clasp; on earrings it is on the post. You are looking for 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K or 24K, or the European fineness numbers 417, 585, 750, 916 and 999, which mean the same things. Letters such as GP, GEP, RGP or HGE mean plated, and GF means gold filled: a thin real-gold layer over base metal, with little to no scrap value underneath.
Then treat everything you just read as a claim, not a guarantee. Stamps wear off. Counterfeit stamps exist on plated pieces. Old and foreign jewelry is often unmarked or marked in systems American sellers do not recognize. Clasps sometimes carry a different karat than the chain they close. No honest buyer prices jewelry off its stamp alone, and neither should you accept an offer built on one.
That is what the XRF analyzer is for. X-ray fluorescence reads the actual elemental composition of the metal in seconds, without scratching, filing or acid-marking your piece, and the reading happens on the counter in front of you, not in a back room. The analyzer does not care what is stamped on the clasp: it reports what the metal actually is. An unmarked inherited piece that tests at 18K is bought as 18K. A boldly stamped chain that tests as plated is declined, with an explanation, at no charge.
Every store also weighs on a state-certified precious metals scale positioned where you can read it. Between the test you watch and the scale you can see, both numbers that set your offer are established in the open. If you want the full method, including the traps mail-in buyers rely on, the complete New Jersey gold selling guide walks through all of it.
What's the 925, 585 or 750 marking on jewelry, and what does it mean?
These are fineness numbers, parts per thousand of precious metal. A 925 marking means sterling silver, 92.5 percent silver, so a piece stamped 925 is priced on the silver market rather than the gold market even when it looks gold, because sterling is often gold-plated (vermeil). A 585 marking means 14K gold and 750 means 18K gold. Whatever the stamp says, the XRF reading described above is what actually sets the price, so an unfamiliar marking is never a reason to stay home.
Why is my ring turning my finger green?
A green mark comes from copper reacting with skin moisture, and copper is the workhorse alloy metal in most jewelry. It happens under plated and costume pieces most, but a genuine 10K or 14K ring can do it too, since real karat gold contains plenty of copper. Turning a finger green does not mean the ring is worthless, and not turning green does not prove it is gold: only the test settles it, free, at the counter.
What are used gold chains worth to a buyer?
A used gold chain is one of the cleanest things to sell, because its value is almost purely karat times weight against the live gold price; wear, a broken clasp or an outdated style takes nothing off the melt math. Heavy rope, Cuban and Figaro chains are bought every day at all eight counters, weighed in front of you on the certified scale.
What happens when I walk in to sell?
The process is the same at all eight stores, and every step happens where you can watch it.
- Walk in, no appointment. All eight stores are open Monday through Friday, 10 to 6. Saturday hours vary by store and two stores are closed Saturday, so check your store's page before a Saturday trip. All eight are closed Sunday.
- ID check. New Jersey law requires a licensed precious metals buyer to record a valid government-issued photo ID for every purchase. It takes about a minute.
- Sorting. Your pieces are separated by karat before anything is weighed, so 18K is never paid at a 14K rate.
- Testing, in front of you. Each piece is read by the XRF analyzer while you watch. Stones are noted for separate evaluation and anything with value above melt is flagged.
- Weighing, on a certified scale you can see. Each karat group is weighed separately, with the unit shown openly.
- The offer, with the math out loud. You hear purity, weight and the live market figure and how they combine. Accept and you are paid in cash the same visit; decline and you leave with every piece exactly as you brought it. The evaluation is free either way.
A single chain or ring usually runs about 15 minutes door to door. A full jewelry box takes closer to 30 or a little more, because every piece gets its own test rather than a glance and a guess.
What do I need to bring?
- A valid government-issued photo ID. Driver license, state ID or passport. New Jersey law requires it for every precious metals sale, so there is no transaction without it.
- Every piece you might sell, exactly as it is. Chains, rings, bracelets, earrings, class rings, dental gold, broken pieces, and especially the ones you are not sure about. The free test settles the uncertain ones in seconds.
- Nothing cleaned or polished. Shine does not change weight or purity, and polishing removes a trace of metal and can hurt a signed or antique piece that was worth more than melt.
- Matching sets and pairs kept together. A complete suite or pair can be worth more whole than as separated scrap, and we can only see that if it arrives together.
- Any paperwork you happen to have. Receipts, appraisals and designer boxes help support value above melt. Useful, never required.
- No appointment. Walk into any of the eight stores during business hours. Testing is free and there is no obligation to sell.
That is the entire preparation. If you want a number in hand before you drive, run your karat and weight through the gold calculator first and compare it to what you hear at the counter.
Eight walk-in stores across Central New Jersey. Free XRF testing, no appointment, same day cash.
📞 Call (732) 483-4145Common questions from jewelry sellers in New Jersey
How much is my gold chain worth?
Three things set the number: the chain's karat purity, its weight in grams, and the live gold market price on the day you sell. A heavy 14K Cuban link is worth many times a light 10K rope chain, so no honest buyer can quote a chain sight unseen. Bring it in and we test and weigh it free in front of you, or run the numbers yourself first with our gold calculator.
Do you buy broken gold?
Yes, at full metal value. Scrap gold is priced on purity and weight, not condition, so a snapped 14K chain is worth the same per gram as a perfect one. Broken chains, bent rings, single earrings, pieces missing stones and tangled knots of gold are all bought at their tested purity. The broken gold page covers this category in detail.
Can I sell 14K gold jewelry here?
Yes, and 14K is the most common gold we buy. It is 58.5 percent pure gold, so a 14K chain, ring or bracelet is priced by its weight, that purity and the live gold market at the moment you sell. The stamp is verified by XRF testing in front of you, so an unmarked or misstamped 14K piece still gets credited at its true purity.
Do you buy gold earrings?
Yes, including single earrings, broken pairs and studs missing their backs. Earrings are priced exactly like any other gold jewelry, by tested purity and weight, and stones are either valued separately or removed and returned to you. Small pieces add up: a jewelry box of odd earrings is often worth more than the one ring a seller came in about.
Is my jewelry real gold? How can I tell?
Look for a karat stamp such as 10K, 14K, 18K, or the European numbers 417, 585, 750, 916 or 999 on the clasp, the inside of the band or the earring post. Letters like GP, GEP, GF, RGP or HGE mean plated or filled, which carries little scrap value. A stamp is a claim rather than a guarantee, so the free XRF test at our counter settles it in seconds without damaging the piece.
Should I sell my gold jewelry or pawn it?
We buy, we never lend. A pawn loan advances cash against your jewelry and holds it as collateral until you repay with interest, and if you cannot repay, you lose the piece anyway. Selling outright pays you the full offer the same day with nothing owed, no deadline and no ticket to redeem. For jewelry you no longer wear, selling almost always puts more money in your pocket.
How much is 15 grams of 14K gold worth?
Multiply 15 grams by 0.585 to get about 8.775 grams of pure gold, divide by 31.1035 to get about 0.282 troy ounces, then multiply by the live gold price per ounce. Our gold calculator does this arithmetic for any karat and weight using the current market number, so you can walk in already knowing the melt value of your own piece.
How do I sell a 14K gold ring?
Bring the ring to any of our eight stores with a photo ID and we test, weigh and quote it in front of you, usually inside 15 minutes. A 14K ring is 58.5 percent pure gold, so the offer comes from its tested purity, its gram weight and the live gold market that day. Any diamond or gemstone is valued separately, and a signed or designer ring is compared against its jewelry value so you are paid the higher figure.
Can I sell 18K gold jewelry?
Yes, and 18K pieces are among the most valuable we buy per gram. 18K is 75 percent pure gold, common on designer and European jewelry, so the same weight pays noticeably more than 14K. Every 18K piece is XRF verified at the counter, sorted into its own karat group, and weighed separately so it is never averaged down into a lower-karat pile.
Do you buy dental gold?
Yes. Crowns, bridges and other dental gold are usually solid gold in the 10K to 20K range rather than plated, so they carry real metal value. Bring them exactly as they are and we test each piece with XRF to establish the true purity before weighing.
Do you buy unmarked or foreign gold jewelry?
Yes. Stamps wear off, many older pieces were never marked, and foreign gold often uses hallmarks that look unfamiliar. The XRF analyzer reads the actual metal content regardless of what is or is not stamped on it, so an unmarked piece that tests as gold is bought at its true purity, never at a worst-case guess.
Is white gold worth less than yellow gold?
No. White gold is the same gold alloyed with white metals instead of copper, so a 14K white gold ring holds exactly the same 58.5 percent gold as a 14K yellow one and is paid the same per gram. Rose gold works the same way. The thin rhodium plating on white gold neither adds nor subtracts value.
Do you buy gold-plated or gold-filled jewelry?
Plated pieces carry only a trace of gold over base metal, so there is usually nothing to pay for. Gold-filled pieces carry a thicker layer and are judged case by case. Bring the uncertain pieces anyway: the test is free, it takes seconds, and we tell you honestly which pile each piece belongs in.
Should I clean my gold jewelry before selling it?
No, and please do not. Shine does not change the weight or purity that set a scrap price, and polishing removes a trace of metal and can lower the value of a signed or antique piece that would have been worth more than melt. Bring everything exactly as it sits in the drawer.
What do I need to bring to sell gold jewelry in New Jersey?
A valid government-issued photo ID, which New Jersey law requires for every precious metals purchase, and the jewelry itself. Keep matching sets and pairs together, bring any receipts or papers you happen to have, and include the pieces you are not sure about. No appointment is needed at any of the eight stores.
Is designer or antique jewelry worth more than its melt value?
Often, yes. Signed pieces from known houses, antique and estate jewelry, and intact designer suites can be worth more sold as jewelry than melted for metal. We value those pieces as jewelry first, compare that figure to melt, and pay you the higher of the two. That comparison happens before any offer is made, not after.
Can I sell a single earring or half a set?
Yes. A single gold earring is bought on its weight and karat like any other piece, so you are never penalized for the missing partner. If you do have both halves of a pair or a full matching suite, keep them together, because a complete set can be worth more than the sum of its scrap.
What should I know when selling 14K gold?
Selling 14K gold comes down to three numbers: purity, weight, and the live spot price. 14K is 58.5 percent pure gold, so each gram is worth that share of the pure-gold gram price at the moment you sell. We confirm the karat with a free XRF test, weigh the piece on a state-certified scale in front of you, and show the math against live spot before any offer.
What is the gold price today per gram, and how much can I sell a gold ring for?
The gold price today per gram is the live spot price divided by 31.1, times your karat purity. How much you can sell a gold ring for depends on that per-gram figure times its tested weight, plus any collector or designer premium above melt.
Do I need an appointment, and how long does selling jewelry take?
No appointment at any of the eight stores. Walk in during business hours, Monday through Friday 10 to 6 everywhere, with Saturday hours varying by store and every store closed Sunday. A single chain or ring is usually tested, weighed and quoted inside 15 minutes; a full jewelry box takes longer because every piece gets its own test.
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Sell diamonds · Estate and inherited lots · Pawn shop alternative · All FAQs