How scrap gold melt value is calculated
Understand karat purity, spot price per gram versus per troy ounce, and why dealers pay a percentage of melt for scrap gold.
What melt value really means
Melt value is the worth of the pure gold locked inside an item if it were melted down and refined, ignoring any craftsmanship, stones or brand. It is the honest baseline a scrap piece is worth as raw metal. A gold chain, a broken earring and a dental crown of the same karat and weight all share the same melt value. Knowing that floor stops you from accepting a lowball offer, because no legitimate buyer should pay less than a sensible fraction of it.
Reading karat and finding the pure content
Karat measures how many parts out of 24 are gold, so a 14k stamp means 14 parts gold and 10 parts alloy such as copper and silver. To get the pure gold content you multiply the total weight by the karat divided by 24. A 10 gram 14k ring therefore holds 10 times 14 divided by 24, which is about 5.8333 grams of actual gold. The rest is alloy that adds strength and color but has little melt value. Always check the hallmark, since a plated or filled item carries far less gold than a solid one.
Spot price: per gram versus per troy ounce
Gold trades on global markets quoted in troy ounces, where one troy ounce equals 31.1034768 grams. If you have a per ounce price, divide it by that constant to reach the per gram price the calculation needs. For example a $2,400 per ounce spot works out to roughly $77.16 per gram. The tool accepts either form and does the conversion for you, so you can paste whichever quote your source shows without doing the arithmetic by hand.
Why buyers pay less than melt
The spot price is what large refiners settle contracts at, not what a walk in customer receives. Buyers deduct a spread to cover assaying the metal, refining losses, handling and their own margin, so offers commonly land between 70 and 90 percent of melt for clean, clearly hallmarked scrap. Mixed karats, thin plating you mistook for solid, or unstamped pieces push the offer lower because the buyer carries more risk. Comparing several quotes against the melt figure this tool gives you is the simplest way to judge whether an offer is fair.