White Gold Price Today

The price of white gold is set by its karat, not its color

White gold is priced exactly like yellow gold of the same karat: a gram of 14K white gold holds 0.583 gram of pure gold, and a gram of 18K white holds 0.75 gram. The whiteness comes from the other metals in the alloy and from plating, and neither adds melt value.

That answers the common search “white gold price vs gold price.” There is no separate white gold market. Refiners, pawn shops and mail-in buyers all price white gold from the ordinary gold spot price, then apply the karat.

To turn these into real numbers, multiply each by today’s gold price divided by 3,000.

“White gold price per ounce” is an alloy ounce

When someone asks what an ounce of white gold is worth, they usually mean a troy ounce of 14K or 18K alloy, not an ounce of pure gold. A troy ounce of 14K white gold contains 0.583 ounce of gold; it is worth 58.3% of spot, not 100%. The same logic applies per pennyweight, the unit many U.S. buyers use.

Why there is no 24K white gold

Pure gold is yellow. Making it white means replacing part of it with white metals, so white gold is always an alloy. In U.S. jewelry you’ll find it in 10K, 14K and 18K. Anything sold as “24K white gold” is either a different metal, such as platinum or silver, or a plated item, and should be priced as such.

Nickel white gold and palladium white gold

Two families of alloy make gold white, and they behave differently on the finger and at the jeweler’s bench, even though a scrap buyer pays the same for the gold in each.

Palladium is itself a precious metal, but in a white gold ring it makes up a small share of the weight. Most small buyers pay for the gold only; any palladium value is recovered, if at all, by the refiner on large lots.

What rhodium plating does and doesn’t do

Most white gold jewelry is electroplated with rhodium, a bright, hard platinum-group metal. It gives white gold its mirror-white finish and masks the faint yellow or gray of the alloy underneath. The layer is extremely thin, so it adds nothing to melt value, and it wears off with time, especially on the palm side of rings. Jewelers replate it as routine maintenance.

If a white gold ring has turned slightly yellow, the plating has worn through. The gold content hasn’t changed. A buyer will price it exactly the same as a freshly plated ring of the same weight and karat.

The 14K gold price page covers the karat most U.S. white gold engagement rings are made in, including how its 585 stamp works.

Telling white gold from platinum, palladium and silver

White metals look alike, and they are priced very differently. Before you value a white piece, identify the metal from its stamp and, if needed, from a test.

• 14K, 18K, 585 or 750: white gold at that karat.
• PLAT, PT, PT950, 950 PLAT or 900 PLAT: platinum, a separate metal with its own market price.
• PD, PALL or PD950: palladium jewelry.
• 925, STER or STERLING: sterling silver, worth a small fraction of white gold per gram.
• No stamp, or a stamp such as “WGP”: possibly plated or base metal; ask for a test.

Weight as a clue

Platinum is much denser than 14K white gold, so a platinum band feels noticeably heavier than a white gold band of the same size. Platinum, at about 21.4 grams per cubic centimeter, is denser than any white gold alloy. Palladium goes the other way: at about 12 grams per cubic centimeter it feels light for its size. A heavy, unmarked white ring deserves a platinum test before anyone quotes it as gold, and a surprisingly light one deserves a palladium or silver test. The platinum price page shows how that metal is quoted.

Before you sell white gold

1. Find the stamp inside the band or on the clasp and write it down.
2. Remove or have the buyer account for stones. A diamond may be worth selling separately; small side stones usually aren’t.
3. Weigh the metal in grams or pennyweights on a scale that reads to 0.1 gram.
4. Multiply by 0.583 for 14K or 0.75 for 18K, then by the price per gram of pure gold.
5. Compare offers as a percentage of that figure. The scrap gold calculator does the math with the live price.

Worked example: an 18K white gold engagement ring weighs 5.2 grams with its center stone. With the stone removed, the metal weighs 4.6 grams, containing 3.45 grams of pure gold. At an example gold price of $3,000 per ounce, the melt value is about $333.

Why white gold jewelry can cost more to buy but not to sell

Retail white gold is often priced a little higher than the same design in yellow. The reasons are in the making, not in the metal: palladium alloys cost more than copper and silver, white gold is harder to cast and finish, and every piece gets rhodium plating before it leaves the workshop.

None of that survives a sale for scrap. A buyer melting the piece recovers the gold and pays for the gold. The palladium, the plating and the extra labor are gone the moment the ring is sold as metal.

When a white gold piece is worth more than melt

• Signed pieces from known jewelry houses, which may resell as jewelry.
• Engagement rings with a certified diamond, where the stone carries most of the value.
• Vintage settings with filigree or hand engraving that a jewelry buyer may want intact.

Why white gold can confuse a quick test

Rhodium plating resists the acids jewelers use for karat testing, so a scratch test on the surface can make white gold look like platinum or like a higher karat than it is. A careful tester files a small notch through the plating first and tests the metal underneath. Some electronic testers read mostly the surface as well, which is why a buyer may ask to make a small file mark on the inside of a band.

Nickel white gold adds another wrinkle: it is harder, so a file bites into it less readily. That says nothing about its karat. If an offer seems low, ask what the tester read and whether the plating was cut through.

For everything else, including worn bands, broken chains and single earrings, melt value is the realistic ceiling for what a buyer will pay. If you are comparing 18K white with other 18K colors, the 18K gold price page shows the same 75% figure behind all of them.