Rose Gold Price Today

Rose gold per gram: the karat decides, the copper doesn’t

Rose gold is worth the same per gram as yellow or white gold of the same karat, because only its gold content counts. The pink color comes from copper, which a scrap buyer doesn’t pay for.

So the price of rose gold per gram is a two-step question. What karat is it, and what is pure gold worth per gram right now? The table answers the first part for every karat you are likely to meet.

9K rose gold is common in Britain and is often sold online. Under U.S. rules it can’t be marketed as gold, because the legal minimum here is 10 karat, but its gold content still has value when sold for scrap.

Is there 24 carat rose gold?

No. Pure gold is yellow, and the pink tone needs copper in the alloy. The higher the karat, the less room for copper, so 22K rose gold is only faintly pink. Items sold as “24K rose gold” are plated or colored, and are valued as such.

For real numbers instead of these examples, multiply any row by the current gold price divided by 3,000.

Rose gold per ounce and per pennyweight

The same karat factor works in any unit. A troy ounce of 14K rose gold contains 0.583 troy ounce of gold, so at an example spot of $3,000 it holds about $1,750 of gold. A pennyweight, one-twentieth of a troy ounce, holds about $87.50. U.S. buyers often post their prices per pennyweight, so it helps to know both figures before comparing offers.

Copper, silver and the shade of pink

Rose, pink and red gold are the same idea at different strengths. Jewelers adjust the ratio of copper to silver in the non-gold part of the alloy: more copper and less silver gives a deeper, redder color; more silver gives a softer pink.

The three names you’ll see

• Red gold: the most copper, a coppery color. Classic 18K red gold is gold and copper alone.
• Rose gold: the middle of the range, the shade most people mean.
• Pink gold: more silver, a lighter blush.

Rose gold is sometimes called “Russian gold” because it was popular in 19th-century Russian jewelry. The name survives in the trade but tells you nothing about karat.

Why rose gold wears differently

Copper hardens gold, so rose gold alloys are generally harder than yellow gold of the same karat. That helps with scratches but makes rose gold a little less forgiving to resize, since it can crack if worked too hard.

Rose gold also isn’t plated to get its color, which matters more than it sounds. Unlike white gold, which usually depends on rhodium plating, rose gold is pink all the way through. Scratches and wear don’t reveal a different color underneath, and polishing brings the same color back.

Repairs need care, too. A jeweler sizing a rose gold ring uses solder of the same karat and a matching rose color. A yellow solder leaves a visible line at the seam. That line is cosmetic and has almost no effect on melt value, but it is a sign the ring has been worked on, which a jewelry buyer, unlike a scrap buyer, may notice.

Over years of wear, high-copper alloys can darken slightly as the copper at the surface oxidizes. A jeweler’s polish restores the color. The gold content is unaffected.

The most common U.S. rose gold is 14K; the 14K gold price page explains its stamps and tolerance in detail.

Rose gold-plated, vermeil and “rose tone”: pieces with little or no gold

Rose gold became a fashion color, and a large share of pink jewelry sold today contains little or no solid gold. Before you look up a rose gold price per gram, make sure the piece is solid.

The FTC Guides for the Jewelry Industry set the minimums in that table. Vermeil, for example, must be sterling silver coated with gold of at least 10 karat and at least 2.5 microns thick. Anything less can’t be called vermeil.

Watches and accessories

Many watches, phone accessories and fashion pieces are described as “rose gold” when they are rose-colored stainless steel or aluminum. The description is about color. Only a karat mark or a fineness number indicates gold content.

Selling a rose gold piece: what changes and what doesn’t

At the buyer’s counter, rose gold is handled like any other karat gold. A few details are specific to it.

1. Find the stamp. Rose gold is marked the same way as yellow gold: 14K, 18K, 585 or 750. There’s no separate “rose” mark.
2. Check for mixed colors. Tri-color rings and bracelets combine yellow, white and rose sections. They are normally all the same karat and are weighed as one piece.
3. Weigh the piece in grams on a scale that reads to 0.1 gram.
4. Multiply by the gold content for the karat, then by the price of pure gold per gram.
5. Compare offers against that melt figure as a percentage.

Worked example: a 14K rose gold bracelet weighs 12 grams. It holds 7 grams of pure gold (12 × 0.583). At an example gold price of $3,000 per ounce, that is about $675 in melt value. An offer of 80% of melt would be about $540.

Two karats deserve a note. Rose 18K is 75% gold like any 18K, which the 18K gold price page prices in detail.

Indian and Middle Eastern rose-toned pieces are more often 22K, where the pink is subtle and the value is closer to pure gold; the 22K gold price page covers that standard.

To run your own numbers in any unit, the gold price calculator accepts grams, pennyweights and ounces with each karat.

Mistakes people make with rose gold

• Reading 375 as a U.S. karat. It means 9K, 37.5% gold, a British standard; the value per gram is well below 14K.
• Treating copper-colored brass or bronze as rose gold because of the color alone. Without a karat mark, a test is needed.
• Assuming a darker, older rose gold piece is “lower quality.” Surface darkening from copper doesn’t change the gold content.
• Deducting the rose sections of a tri-color piece as if they weren’t gold. They are usually the same karat as the yellow and white parts.
• Pricing a rose gold watch by its total weight. Cases may be solid gold while the movement, crystal and often the buckle are not.