The Most Accurate Live Gold Price Calculator

Calculate the real-time melt value of your gold jewelry, scrap gold, or coins. Just enter the weight and purity (karat) to get an instant, honest estimate based on the live market spot price.

Find the True Value of Your Gold, Instantly

Transparent Pricing. Instant Results.

Select Purity

Choose the karat of your gold from the dropdown. Most jewelry in the US is 14k
(58.3% pure) or 10k (41.7% pure). Don’t know the karat? Check for a tiny stamp or
hallmark on your item.

Enter Weight

Use a digital kitchen or jewelry scale for the most accurate result. We support
grams, ounces, and even pennyweight for a precise calculation.

See the Live Value

We instantly calculate the melt value of the pure gold in your item based on the
current market price. No fees, no hidden math—just the honest value.

You Have the Number. What’s Next?

Planning to Sell Your Gold?

The number from our calculator is the “spot melt value.” It’s important to know that gold buyers typically pay a percentage of this value (often 70-95%) to cover their own costs. To ensure you get a fair price, it’s critical to understand the process.

Read Our Guide to Selling Gold

Want to Learn More About Gold?

Gold’s value is driven by its purity, weight, and global market forces. Understanding these elements empowers you as an owner or investor. Dive into our free resources to learn about hallmarks, purity testing, and investment strategies.

Explore the Education Center

From the TheGoldCalculator.com Knowledge Center

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Our mission is simple — to make gold valuation accurate, honest, and accessible to everyone. We use verified data sources, not estimates, and never charge hidden fees.
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Empowering You with Honest, Accurate Gold Information.

At The Gold Calculator, our mission is to demystify the world of precious metals. We were founded on the principle that everyone deserves free, transparent access to the information needed to value their assets correctly.

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Valuable Gold Calculator FAQ

We know that understanding the value of your gold can raise a lot of questions. Here, we’ve compiled answers to the most common queries we receive, from basic definitions to the specifics of our calculator. Our goal is to provide clear, honest, and helpful information.


Karat is a measure of purity. It tells you what percentage of your item is pure gold versus other metals (alloys). Pure gold is 24 karats, but it’s too soft for most jewelry, so it’s mixed with stronger metals for durability.

It’s all about the ratio of pure gold to alloy metals:

10K gold: 41.7% pure gold. The most durable, as it contains more alloy metals than pure gold.

14K gold: 58.3% pure gold. The most popular choice in the U.S. for its excellent blend of value and durability.

18K gold: 75.0% pure gold. A great balance, popular in high-end European jewelry.

22k gold: 91.67% pure gold. Strong and durable, suitable for daily jewelry wear. (Rich yellow, but slightly less intense than 24k.)

24K gold: 99.9% pure gold. The purest form, but very soft.

Fineness is just another way to express purity, using a scale of 1 to 999. It represents parts per thousand of pure gold.

585 or 583 Fineness is the same as 14K gold (58.3% to 58.5%).

999 Fineness is the same as 24K gold.

750 Fineness is the same as 18K gold (750 parts per 1000).


Look for a tiny stamp, called a “hallmark,” on the item. It’s often on the inside of a ring, on the clasp of a necklace, or on the post of an earring. It will usually say “10K,” “14K,” “18K,” or a fineness number like “585” or “750.”


Not necessarily! While higher karats mean more pure gold, they also mean the item is softer and more prone to scratches and bending. 14K gold is often considered the “sweet spot” for jewelry that you wear daily because it’s beautiful but also very durable.


This can happen with older, custom-made, or heavily worn pieces. It doesn’t mean it isn’t real gold. It simply means it needs to be professionally tested by a jeweler or a reputable gold buyer using acid or an electronic tester to determine its purity.

There are two main reasons:

  1. Durability: As mentioned, pure gold is extremely soft.
  2. Color: Mixing gold with different alloys creates different colors. For example, adding more copper creates rose gold, while adding nickel or palladium creates white gold.

Our calculator uses a simple, transparent formula:
(Weight of Your Item) x (Purity of Your Gold) x (Live Market Price of Gold)
It instantly combines these three factors to give you the current, real-time melt value of your gold.


We connect directly to a live financial market data feed for the price of pure (24K) gold, often called the “spot price.” This price fluctuates constantly throughout the day, and our calculator updates right along with it.

A Troy Ounce is the standard unit of measurement for precious metals. It’s slightly heavier than a standard ounce (the one you use for cooking).

  • 1 Troy Ounce = 31.1 grams
  • 1 Standard Ounce = 28.35 grams


No. Our calculator is designed to find the value of the gold only. Gemstones need to be appraised separately for their own value and their weight should be subtracted from the total weight of the item for an accurate gold melt value.


This is a tool to help you estimate your actual payout. The calculator’s main result is the full market value of the gold. A buyer needs to cover costs for melting and refining. Checking this box deducts a standard 20% refining fee to give you a more realistic estimate of what a buyer might offer.

The value shown is the full, live market value of the gold itself. A pawn shop, jeweler, or online gold buyer will offer you a percentage of that value to cover their business costs. Our calculator with the “refining fee” checked gives you a good ballpark estimate of a fair offer.

  • Melt Value: The intrinsic value of the precious metal in your item if it were melted down. Our calculator determines this.
  • Resale Value: The price someone might pay for the item as is. For unique, antique, or designer-brand pieces (like Tiffany or Cartier), the resale value can be much higher than the melt value because you’re also selling the craftsmanship and brand name.


Reputable gold buyers have business costs to cover, including the cost of testing, melting, and refining the gold, as well as operational overhead. They make a profit on the margin between the full market price and the price they pay you. A fair offer is typically between 70% and 90% of the melt value.


Currently, our calculator is calibrated specifically for gold. The spot price and purity standards (karats) are unique to gold. Soon we will have a silver calculator and a platinum calculator available.


The price of gold fluctuates daily. While we cannot offer financial advice, you can use historical price charts to see trends over time. Generally, gold prices tend to rise during times of economic uncertainty. The best time to sell is when you are comfortable with the current market price and need the funds.

Our calculator is for solid gold items only.

  • Gold-plated items have an extremely thin, microscopic layer of gold over a base metal (like brass). They have no significant melt value.
  • Gold-filled items have a thicker layer of gold bonded to a base metal. While they have more gold than plated items, their value is still very small and they cannot be valued with this calculator.


No. It won’t affect the weight or the chemical testing process, so don’t worry about polishing it.


Yes. We use standard web security protocols (HTTPS) to ensure your connection to our site is private and secure. We do not ask for or store any personal information in our calculator.


Our mission is to be an independent and trustworthy information resource. We created this calculator to empower you with knowledge. We do not buy gold directly, which allows us to remain completely unbiased.


We believe everyone deserves to know the true value of their assets. We saw a need for a free, transparent, and easy-to-use calculator tool to help people understand what their gold is worth without any pressure or sales tactics.