Calculating the current scrap gold prices is fairly easy! Let’s do it!
Alan, we have a nice amount of scrap gold here. Me and my wife, we just got married and we’ve got a very special present from my uncle: 3 jars full of scrap gold. My uncle’s dad had a jewelry store in downtown in the 1990s and we guess that this is the gold he bought once. He had to close his store much too early, just 5 years after opening, because of a cancer disease. Finally he died, sadly. The gold jars were my uncle’s present to our marriage. He doesn’t have an idea about the value but he mentioned that some thousands of dollars could the jars be worth. We bought a house and we need a kitchen. The model we saw costs $6,000. We hope that our scrap gold can sell for maybe $5,000 but we don’t have an idea how to calculate the value. Can you help us how to calculate scrap gold prices, Alan? We would like to know the selling value, before we offer our gold to gold buyers.
Peter from Fort Collins in Colorado
Peter, it’s fun to work on your concern because huge amounts of gold, like your gold, are more often sold from commercial clients to our company than from private individuals. Individuals sell dental crowns, coins, jewelry and other stuff with us. But jars full with scrap gold are not so common. Without knowing facts like the weight or the purity I’m almost sure that you can pay off the full kitchen plus kitchen utilities with that amount of gold. Subject to the condition that it’s authentic gold and not gold plated. But you know we did a great team work with you and I guess we found what we were looking for.
reDollar appraiser, Alan Jensen
Peter wants to know, how to calculate scrap gold prices
Peter: As I told you, our scrap gold is a present to our marriage. We are very thankful and honor our uncle’s generosity. We decided to deal with his valuable present very cautiously. We have seen shows on TV warning about gold buying companies ripping off unaware people. We don’t want to become part of a scam and decided to find out more about our gold’s value. But we don’t have a clue how to do the evaluation. Our uncle isn’t helpful because he was never interested in gold. So Alan, how to calculate scrap gold prices for gold like that?
Alan: We had a longer phone call. You remember, I told you to buy a scale and a magnifier. I recommend buying both items on eBay or Amazon because there you can get this stuff very cheap.
Peter: Yes, we did. It was fun, Alan. We felt a little bit like gold buyers. Me and my wife we were sitting on the kitchen table examining the gold jars. We closed all curtains to ensure that nobody spies us (laughing).
Alan: It sounds like fun. It was very helpful for you and also for me that the jars were marked. One jar was labeled as “18K”, the other jar as “14K”, and the third jar as “mixture.” Let me explain some general things before we speak about the content. Some basic information is really helpful if you want to know how to calculate scrap gold prices. First, gold comes in very different qualities. The best quality is so-called “pure gold” and often marked as “24K” or “.999 gold.” 18K gold means that 18 parts out of 24 parts are made of pure gold. Spoken in percentage, 18K gold equals 75% of pure gold. 14K gold means that 14 parts out of 24 parts are made of pure gold. Spoken in percentage, 14K gold equals 58.5% of pure gold. Also not uncommon in the US is 10K gold. 10K gold was mainly used in past days for class rings or college rings. These days 10K gold is often used for so-called statement chains and necklaces. Very often more than just a massive chain and often seen in music videos. 10K gold means that 10 parts out of 24 parts are made of pure gold. Spoken in percentage, 10K gold equals 41.6% of pure gold. We know that 2 of your gold jars are marked as “14K” and “18K.”
Peter: Yes, and you asked us to double-check the stated information.
Alan: Yes, I wanted to ensure that in the 18K gold jar is 18K gold. Therefore I told you to open the jar to determine the different pieces.
18 karat gold is hallmarked as “18K” or “18kt” or sometimes also hallmarked as “.750” or “750.”. I told you to check a significant amount of pieces for hallmarks of that kind.
Peter: It was fun but it was really exhausting to spy the markings. Almost all markings were so small that using a loupe was necessary. After a while it became painful to stare through the loupe. But we did the job and all pieces in the “18K” jar were hallmarked correctly. We also weighed the gold as you told us, by using a scale. The scale showed us a weight of 272.4 grams.
Alan: That’s a lot of gold, Peter. And do you know what? 272.4 grams of 18K gold equals 204.3 grams of pure gold. Looking at the current stock value, pure gold is worth $2383.37 each ounce what equals $75.95 each gram. An outstanding gold buyer like us charges you only 10% for turning your gold into cash. So, we pay you 90% of the spot price for your gold. That means we pay you $69.04 for each gram of pure gold. Your calculation is therefore: 204.3 grams of pure gold multiplied with our purchase price for 24K gold per gram $69.04. Your total for that jar is therefore $14105.09. A lot more than your kitchen costs, right?
reDollar price for 18K gold per oz $1611.99
reDollar price for 18K gold per gram $51.83
reDollar price for 18K gold per dwt $80.34
Stock market price for 18K gold per oz $1773.19
Stock market price for 18K gold per gram $57.02
Stock market price for 18K gold per dwt $88.37
Peter: I can’t believe what we have got here. I don’t know what to say.
Alan: Yes, gold is a great asset and once you have understand the value estimation it’s very easy to calculate a price. The other jar contains 178.49 grams of 14K gold. You’ve also double-checked the hallmarks and everything seemed to be ok?
Peter: Yes, that’s correct. All pieces are hallmarked. I know that does not mean anything but let’s assume the weight is correct and all the pieces are made of solid gold with no fillings etc.
Alan: Alright! 178.49 grams of 14K gold equals 104.14 grams of pure gold. Your calculation is therefore: 104.14 grams of pure gold multiplied with our current price for 24K gold per gram $69.04. Your total for that 14K jar is therefore $7189.94. That’s a decent amount of money I think so.
reDollar purchase price for 14K gold per oz $1257.36
reDollar purchase price for 14K gold per gram $40.43
reDollar purchase price for 14K gold per dwt $62.67
Stock market price for 14K gold per oz $1383.09
Stock market price for 14K gold per gram $44.47
Stock market price for 14K gold per dwt $68.93
Peter: Wow that’s amazing! I did not expect such high prices.
Alan: You have a total of $7189.94 for the 14K gold jar and $14105.09 for the 18K gold jar but we have not calculated the third scrap gold jar. The third jar is more complex because we don’t know the content for sure. I told you to check the markings and truly it’s a mixture. You spotted markings like 9K, what is a European gold marking, but also 20K and 22K markings, which are Arabian markings of high-graded gold. It’s a mixture and we can just roughly estimate the gold content. It could contain 40% of pure gold or maybe 50% of pure gold, in the average. Let’s assume it’s just 45% of pure gold for our calculation. We have 324.71 grams in total what brings us to a total of $10098.34 for this scrap gold jar.
Peter: I think I will return one of the jars to my uncle. I’m pretty sure, he didn’t know what he did.
Alan: That’s an impressive total amount of $31383.30 for your scrap gold. That’s a lot of money in scrap gold for a private household. For companies like ours, it’s a small amount but we buy gold from all over the US. That’s the big difference. But Peter, please remember. There was no way for me to check the authenticity and the purity with our XRF machine. It’s possible that there are gold filled items in your jar. We would need to check your gold in person to make a final statement and offer. Please consider that.
Peter: We are aware of that, thank you so much Alan. Your advice is priceless! We will send you at least one jar. We can use the money for our new home. The marriage was expensive and you know, families are always in need of extra cash.
Alan: Yes, I know. I wish you all the best and I’m excited to see your gold in our laboratory. In your case, I will do the evaluation by myself.
Peter: That sounds great!
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