How to Determine if I Have Real Gold and What Will I Get to

A frequent question we get it: How much is my gold worth? Here are some methods you can use to help determine the value of your scrap, broken and unwanted gold.

The main determinant of the value of a gold item: is it gold plated or is it solid gold? The easiest way to answer this yourself is to stick a powerful magnet on your items. Gold is a non-ferrous, non-magnetic, metal and will not draw to a magnet. If your items are magnetically attracted then they are gold plated. Unfortunately gold plating is usually very thin, sometimes only a few atoms thick. The gold content of these items is very little.

If your gold item does not draw to the magnet, you are off to a great start. Next it’s time to break out the magnifying glass and carefully inspect the item. The Karat rating is usually stamped somewhere on the inside band of a ring or on the clasp of a necklace, but this is not always the case. Some disreputable gold merchants will stamp a 14K gold rating onto a gold plated item. Bear in mind that the stamp is not a guarantee.

Now if you see a gold marking and the item is not drawn to a magnet you most likely have solid gold. The next thing that affects the value is the Karat rating of the gold. Karat is simply the purity of the gold. 24K gold is 99.9% pure gold and 18K is 75% pure gold (18/24 = .75). Here is a quick graph to see what purity the most common karat stamps are:

24K = 99.9% gold

18K = 75% gold

14K = 58.33% gold

12K = 50% gold

10K = 41.67% gold

The only remaining piece of the puzzle is the weight of the item. Gold and other precious metals are weighed in troy ounces. The troy ounce is part of the imperial units of measure unlike the more common avoirdupois ounce. A troy ounce is 31.1 grams and a standard American ounce is 28.35 grams. You can simply take your items and place them on an inexpensive postal scale. Now bear in mind that your scale will be measuring in avoirdupois ounces and not troy ounces. A troy ounce is about 10% more than an avoirdupois ounce so take your ounce weight and multiply by 0.911 to get a rough troy ounce weight.

So let’s assume you have 1/2 ounce of 14k gold. You can multiply the 0.5 ounces by 0.911, so now you have about 0.455 troy ounces of gold. Now take your 0.455 ounces and multiply by .58333 because your 14k is only 58.333% gold. So you have 0.266 troy ounces of solid gold. Now find out the New York spot market for gold Which at the time of this article is about $1,370 per troy ounce and multiply that by the 0.266 troy ounces of gold in your item. Your gold item should have about $364 of salvage gold in it.

You must realize that it is very hard to buy or sell gold at the spot market price, $1370/ounce for our example. Whether you are selling to a jeweler, pawn shop or internet based gold refiner, they will have to make a profit on your items. They will pay you a discounted amount of the spot price. The amount of the discount can vary widely from one dealer to another. A reasonable premium for the gold buyer to pay is somewhere in near 50-60% of the spot price. This allows the gold buyer to cover their overhead and expense. If you find a gold buyer who will not tell you what percentage of spot they pay, or only offer you 20 cents on the dollar, then you should keep looking.

If you prefer a discreet and safe gold gold selling experience, consider an online gold buyer. There are many reputable gold dealer out there, in order to find one, make sure they video record the inventory of your items. Make sure they give you a chance to accept or reject your offer and make sure they will return your items to you. Choose a buyer who will quote you the price per gram that they pay and choose one who insures their gold return mailer.



sterling silver charms
diskoteksudstyr