Scrap Gold Calculator

Worked example: a mixed bag of old jewelry

Scrap gold is worth its pure gold content times the gold price, minus the buyer’s margin. The calculator above does it one karat at a time; real jewelry drawers are rarely that tidy, so here is the same method applied to a typical mixed lot.

1. Weigh and multiply each karat group separately, as in the table.
2. Add up the pure gold: 14.35 grams.
3. Convert the gold price to grams. At an example spot of $3,000 per troy ounce, divide by 31.1035 to get about $96.45 per gram.
4. Melt value: 14.35 × 96.45 is about $1,384.
5. Apply the buyer’s percentage. At 70% the offer is about $969; at 90% it is about $1,246.

The mixed-lot trap

Now suppose a buyer tosses the whole bag on the scale and prices all 24.2 grams as 10K. That is 10.08 grams of pure gold, or about $973 of melt value, nearly 30% less than the sorted lot before any margin is taken. Nothing about the buyer’s stated percentage changed; the karat assumption did the damage. Sorting by stamp before you go in, and asking for each karat to be weighed separately, protects you from it.

If most of your lot is low karat, the 10K gold price page explains the legal tolerance that some buyers build into their 10K rate.

Weighing errors that shrink a payout

The scale is where most honest mistakes happen, and some less honest ones. Three unit systems are in common use around gold, and they are easy to mix up.

The kitchen-scale ounce

A kitchen scale set to ounces reads avoirdupois ounces, which are about 9% lighter than troy ounces. If you weigh your gold at home in “oz” and multiply by a spot price quoted per troy ounce, you’ll overestimate the value by roughly 10%. Switch the scale to grams and convert from there.

Pennyweight price boards

Many U.S. buyers post prices per pennyweight, which makes their numbers look smaller than a per-gram or per-ounce quote. One dwt is 1.5552 grams, and 20 dwt make a troy ounce. The gold price per pennyweight page converts spot into that unit so you can check a board against it.

Parts that don’t count as gold

• Stones and pearls, which are removed or deducted by estimate.
• Steel springs inside clasps, and steel pin stems on some brooches.
• Watch movements, crystals and steel bracelet parts.
• Lead or resin fillers in hollow or weighted pieces, such as some religious medals and kundan work.
• Gold-filled or plated components mixed into a solid piece, such as a replacement clasp.

A scale used to buy by weight should be a legal-for-trade model, certified and inspected under state weights-and-measures rules. It is fair to ask the buyer to zero it and weigh in front of you.

Why offers land below melt, and how far

No buyer can pay 100% of melt and stay in business. The gap between melt value and the offer pays for refining, assay risk, overhead and profit. On this site that gap is usually described as offers of 70% to 90% of melt, and where a particular buyer lands depends on the kind of business.

What sits inside the buyer’s margin

• Refining charges: the refiner that eventually melts the scrap charges a fee and pays on assay, not on the stamp.
• Assay risk: a stamped 14K item may test slightly under 58.3%, and occasionally a piece is plated.
• Holding periods: many states and cities require precious-metal buyers to record the seller’s ID and hold items for a set number of days before melting, which ties up money.
• Overhead: rent, testing equipment, insurance and staff time.

Turning any offer into a percentage

Buyers quote in different ways: a flat dollar amount, a price per pennyweight, or a price per gram for each karat. To compare them, convert each into a share of melt. Divide the offer by the melt value and multiply by 100. For the mixed lot above, an offer of $1,050 against a melt value of about $1,384 is roughly 76% of melt; an offer of $1,200 is about 87%.

A per-pennyweight quote needs one more step. Multiply the quoted rate by the weight in dwt for each karat, add the karats together, and then compare the total with melt. A buyer who won’t tell you the weight in dwt, or who weighs out of sight, makes that comparison impossible.

Pawn loan versus outright sale

People searching “scrap gold price at pawn shop today” often don’t realize a pawn shop offers two different deals. A loan keeps the jewelry in the shop as collateral and lets you redeem it later, with interest and fees. A sale is final. The loan amount is normally lower than what the same shop would pay to buy the gold, because the shop has to allow for price changes during the loan. If you want the jewelry back, a loan is the tool; if you don’t, compare sale offers only.

A broader look at where to sell, from local jewelers to refiners, is on the where to sell gold page.

After the sale: tax and records

Selling scrap gold has a tax side that many sellers never think about. The IRS treats gold, including jewelry, as a collectible. If you sell for more than you paid and you held the item for more than a year, the gain is taxed at your ordinary rate but no more than 28% at the federal level. Gains on items held a year or less are taxed as ordinary income.

Most inherited or long-owned scrap jewelry sells for less than it originally cost at retail, because the purchase price included making charges and retail margin. A sale at a loss on personal-use jewelry produces no deductible loss, but there is also no gain to report.

Paperwork to keep after a sale

1. The buyer’s written receipt, showing weight, karat, price per unit and total paid.
2. The spot price on the day of the sale, for your own comparison.
3. Any original purchase receipts, which establish your cost basis if there was a gain.
4. For inherited pieces, any record of their value at the date of inheritance, since that usually becomes the basis.

State sales tax is a separate question from income tax and applies to purchases rather than to selling scrap. Check the value of your lot against the gold price today on the day you sell.

Use the gold price calculator in a separate tab if you need to convert units such as tolas or grains that the scrap tool doesn’t list.