Gold Price per Grain Today

A grain of gold, measured and priced

One troy grain of pure gold is worth the troy-ounce price divided by 480. At an example price of $3,000 per ounce, that is $6.25 a grain.

The grain is the one unit the troy and avoirdupois systems share. Since the 1959 international yard and pound agreement it has been defined as exactly 64.79891 milligrams. Everything else is built from it: 24 grains make a pennyweight, 480 make a troy ounce, 5,760 make a troy pound and 7,000 make the everyday avoirdupois pound. Historically it traces back to the weight of a single grain of cereal, which is why it is so small.

The grain also lives on outside metals. The old apothecaries’ system used it, which is why the classic aspirin tablet is 325 milligrams: five grains. Bullet and powder weights are still given in grains as well.

How much is 1/4 grain or 1/2 grain of gold worth?

Fractions of a grain come up with flake vials and tiny bars. At the same $3,000 example price:

• 1/4 grain: $6.25 ÷ 4 = about $1.56.
• 1/2 grain: about $3.13.
• 1 grain: $6.25.
• 5 grains: $31.25.
• 24 grains, which is one pennyweight: $150.

How much is one grain of karat gold worth?

Multiply the pure-gold grain value by purity. At the same example price, a grain of 22K is worth about $5.73, 18K about $4.69, 14K about $3.65 and 10K about $2.60.

Replace $3,000 with the gold price today per ounce, divide by 480, and you have the live value of a grain of 24K gold. For karat gold, multiply by the purity as usual.

Weighing grains on a reloading scale

Ammunition reloaders measure powder charges and bullet weights in grains, so reloading scales, both balance-beam and digital, read directly in grains, typically to 0.1 grain. That resolution is 6.5 milligrams, finer than a pocket scale that reads to 0.01 gram (0.154 grain). For weighing flakes and small nuggets, a reloading scale is a practical tool many households already own.

Getting a reliable reading

1. Place the scale on a solid, level surface away from fans, vents and open windows. Air currents move readings at this scale.
2. Pick the scale type knowingly: a beam scale needs no batteries and holds calibration well but reads slowly, while a digital scale is quick but can drift with temperature and needs frequent re-zeroing.
3. Warm up a digital scale for a few minutes and zero it with the empty weighing pan or container on it.
4. Check the scale with a known check weight. Reloading scales are usually sold with one, often in grains.
5. Weigh the gold dry. Water clinging to flakes or a damp paper adds weight that isn’t gold.
6. Weigh three times, removing and replacing the sample, and use the average.
7. Convert: divide grains by 15.432 for grams or by 480 for troy ounces.

Grain vs carat vs karat

Three similar words, three unrelated measures. A grain is a weight of 64.8 milligrams. A metric carat is a gemstone weight of 200 milligrams, about 3.09 grains. A karat is a purity measure for gold alloys, with 24 karat meaning pure. A reloading scale set to grains won’t confuse them, but a price list might.

Casting grain is not a weight

Jewelry suppliers sell “casting grain”: small pellets of gold alloy ready to melt. The phrase describes the shape of the metal. A bag of 14K casting grain is priced by the pennyweight or gram, and the word grain on the label says nothing about how much it weighs. Supplier pricing by the pennyweight is explained on the gold price per pennyweight page.

Where grain-sized gold turns up

The grain is the natural unit for the smallest amounts of gold that people buy, find or sell.

Flakes and panning finds

Gold flakes sold in small vials are usually suspended in water, and the glass and liquid weigh far more than the gold. The number that matters is the stated gold content, and it is often a fraction of a grain. Placer gold from streams is natural alloy, mostly gold with some silver, and its fineness varies from one deposit to another, so a grain of panned gold is worth less than a grain of pure gold. Natural gold pricing is covered on the gold nugget price page.

Gold leaf

Gold leaf is hammered so thin that a whole book of it holds very little metal. It is sold by the sheet or book rather than by weight, and its karat varies with the intended use, so a per-grain price is only a rough guide to its metal value.

Old U.S. coin law

The grain is how the United States once defined its money. From 1837, the dollar was set at 23.22 grains of fine gold. Divide 480 grains by 23.22 and you get the old official price of about $20.67 per troy ounce. The $20 double eagle contained 464.4 grains of fine gold, which is 0.9675 troy ounce.

The grain figures follow directly from the 23.22-grain dollar: each coin holds its face value times 23.22 grains of fine gold.

Grain pricing mistakes to avoid

• Forgetting the purity assumption. The live grain value on this page is for 24K gold; karat or natural gold needs its own multiplier.
• Pricing gross weight. A vial, a capsule or a card of flakes weighs mostly packaging, so only the stated or measured gold counts.
• Treating natural gold as 24K. Panned gold and nuggets carry silver and other metals, so their melt value per grain is lower.
• Reading grams as grains. A reading of 1.00 on a pocket scale set to grams is 15.4 grains, a fifteen-fold error in value.
• Expecting a buyer to pay per grain. Refiners and buyers rarely accept lots measured in grains; most need a minimum weight and charge a fee that can exceed the value of a few grains.

Tiny bars sold by grain weight

Some small gold products state their content in grains or in fractions of a gram. Before comparing prices, check two things on the label: whether the stated weight is fine gold or the total weight of the item, and what purity the gold is. Divide the price by the fine grains to get a price per grain, then compare it with the grain value above; the difference is the premium for the format.

For anything larger than a few grains, convert to grams or pennyweights and use the gold price calculator, which handles every karat.

Grams are also the unit most buyers and refiners use, and the gold price per gram page gives the matching live figure.