# How To Calculate Scrap Gold Prices

If you have scrap gold to sell you have probably seen dozens of pawn shops in your own time offering to buy it. Selling scrap gold is not a problem, the difficulty is getting a fair price for it from a scrap gold merchant.

Most scrap gold dealers you find on the high-street will but gold for about 30 to 60 per cent of its actual value, in other words you make a massive loss, but if you have some idea how much your gold is worth you have a better chance of getting a fair price or your jewellery.

Your best option of attracting a fair price is to take your jewellery to gold refiners although many have a minimum buy weight of around three to five ounces. Alternatively you can sell your merchandise at auction where you can expect to receive between 70 and 90 per cent of its actual value.

If there are any gemstones in your jewellery do not sell them to a gold refiner as the gems are not included in the price of gold. Have the buyer remove the stones and take them with you. A reputable dealer will mention this to you so why not use it as a test of trust.

## How many carats does you gold have?

The price of gold is determined by its weight and a comparison against the spot gold charts. A quick search on the internet will tell you what the current spot prices are for gold. Dealers will add to two or three percent on to the spot price but no more.

You may have various items of gold you wish to sell. It will be easier to evaluate the total value if you separate your items into carat as the costs differ depending on how many carats is in your gold.

Note that jewellery manufactured prior to 1980 has slightly less karat than marked. Therefore if you have a 24 carat gold necklace made in 1976, it probably only has 22 or 23 carats. Before you take your jewellery to a scrap gold merchant you can check it is real gold by dropping it in acid. If your jewellery is gold plated it will come away.

If you have gold coins sell them separately too as they may have some numismatic value that is more than the value of their weight. The price is calculated on age, rarity and condition. Before you sell gold coins, it helps if you have a certificate of authenticity to get the best price.

## Calcualting the weight of gold

To work out the value of your scrap metal weigh the piece on jeweller´s scales although a good set of kitchen scales will suffice if you have enough to tip ounces. However, it is better to evaluate your gold in grams so alternatively, take your gold to a jeweller´s and ask them to weigh it for you.

The value of gold is measured in troy ounces which equals 31.1 grams. You can find out how much one troy ounce costs by referring to spot gold prices (in troy ounce). The rest is just simple maths by dividing the spot price by the total weight in gold you have.

For example, let´s take the latest price of $1203 per troy ounce and divide that by 31.1 grams and you get$38.68 per gram of gold. You then need to determine how many carats your gold has. Let´s say 18. Divide this by 24 carats and you get 0.75. Multiply this with the price per gram $38.68 x 0.75 =$29.01.

So you have a price for your gold of $29.01 per gram. If you have 10 grams you should look to demand a price somewhere in the region of$290, although bear on mind that when the gold is melted down it loses some of its weight due to the metal alloys so the value will depend on the fineness of gold. Jewellery typically has around 70 per cent gold and the rest alloyed metals whereas coins are between 93 and 99.9 fineness.

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