A brief discussion on how to sell scrap gold and get the most money for your jewelry and odds and ends…
Separate your gold into karat weight. Usually it’s marked on the piece. If you’re my age (46) you’ll need a magnifying glass or a jeweler’s loupe to see the mark. You’re looking for marks that say 10K, 14K, 18K. If you see things that say 1/20 12K, that’s bad. Or HGE – that’s also bad…GF is gold filled, that’s bad…but KP is good…that means gold plum. That’s a term used to describe very good gold that matches exactly the requirements for the karat weight listed…so that’s a good thing.
Okay, so you’ve separated by karat weight. Now weigh it on a scale that uses grams. You won’t be selling in ounces, so don’t worry about ounces. We’ll help you do the math later, but for now, you’re going to look for the number of grams you have.
Metal is measured in grams and TROY ounces. Troy ounces are different than avoirdupois ounces, which is the sort of ounce you use to mix cake batter, or buy olives in…usually everything except metal is measured in avoirdupois ounces. There are 28 grams in an avoirdupois ounce, but 31.1 in a troy ounce…so the math is different.
So now you have it separated by karat weight, measured in grams and you’re ready to do the math…
Take the price of gold on any given day and divide it by 31.1 – you’re dividing the price of gold 1670.00/31.1 = 53.69
This is price you’ve done the math for is the price for one gram, pure 24 karat gold. The purest gold on the planet. But they don’t make jewelry out of 24K gold because it’s too soft, and the gold you robably have is 14K, which is only 58.5% gold, and then a mixture of silver, and copper, maybe some tin…but it’s not all gold. So you have to account for the purity. Since you have 14K gold, multiply the figure of 53.69 X .585 (which is the decimal equivalent of 58.5% pure gold – which is what 14K is)
That gives you 31.41…this is the price per gram that YOUR gold, the gold you have in your hands will sell on the spot market for 100%. This includes no fee…So the most you could ever get paid is 31.41 – if nobody charged you to refine it. But that’s not real world. In the real world, people will get paid to buy and sell things.
So prepare to pay about 25- 35% to someone when you sell it. You may get 20 dollars a gram if you have a sizable quantity of gold. If you only have a little, you may get $19 or $18 – because remember the golden rule. He who has the most gold makes the rules.
Anyway, volume is always a way to make more money. So here we are. We separated the gold, weighed the gold, did the math, and found an approximate dollar value for our metal…now all you need to do is find someone who will buy it who’s not a crooked dealer.
I’m going to of course, suggest myself. I’ve just given you all the secrets to knowing how much your gold is worth. You know what I know and I welcome the educated consumer. I’m glad to have you in the store. And of course, I’ll make some money. It’s what I do. It’s why I went into business. But you’ll make money, too. And you’ll know what’s going on. Because I helped you get educated and now you’re an informed consumer.
Good luck. Call me if you have questions. I’m the owner of Houston Gold Merchants and my number is 832 259 7225
