Gold value calculator: what is your gold worth today?
Gold value = weight in troy ounces x purity x spot price. For example, 10 g of 18ct gold holds 7.5 g of pure gold, worth $1,011.69 at the 10 October 2026 spot price of $4,195.60 an ounce. The calculator below uses the live price. A buyer will normally pay somewhat less than this melt value.
Calculate the value of your gold
Live spot price: Loading. The result is melt value in USD, not a dealer price. The Eagle, Maple Leaf and Sovereign presets use each coin's full weight and alloy, so a 1 oz Eagle (33.931 g at 22K) correctly comes out at one troy ounce of pure gold.
How do you use the gold value calculator?
- Choose your currency. The live spot price loads for it.
- Pick a preset for a common coin, bar or piece of jewelry, or type your own weight.
- Set the unit your scale uses: troy ounces, grams or kilograms.
- Select the purity. If you are unsure, use the karat table below or check the stamp.
- Enter how many identical items you have, then read the melt value and the grams of pure gold.
What is the formula for gold value?
Melt value = weight in troy ounces x purity x spot price per troy ounce.
A troy ounce is exactly 31.1034768 grams (NIST), so for a weight in grams, divide by 31.1035 first. Purity is the share of the item that is gold: 0.375 for 9ct, 0.75 for 18ct, 0.9167 for 22ct. The spot price is the wholesale market price of gold for immediate delivery. The result leaves out the premium a dealer adds when selling to you and the discount a buyer takes when buying from you. If you want to learn more about the unit itself, read what is a troy ounce.
What does the calculation look like with real numbers?
These worked examples use the spot price from the GoldVetted price check on 10 October 2026: $4,195.60 and £3,171.03 per troy ounce. That is $134.89 or £101.95 per gram of pure gold. The last two columns show the same items at today's live price.
| Item | Pure gold inside | 10 Oct 2026 (USD) | 10 Oct 2026 (GBP) | Live (USD) | Live (GBP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 g 9ct ring | 5 x 0.375 = 1.875 g | $252.92 | £191.16 | ... | ... |
| 10 g 14K chain | 10 x 0.5833 = 5.833 g | $786.82 | £594.68 | ... | ... |
| 10 g 18ct chain | 10 x 0.75 = 7.5 g | $1,011.69 | £764.63 | ... | ... |
| Full Sovereign | 7.3224 g (0.2354 oz) | $987.73 | £746.53 | ... | ... |
| 1 oz Gold Eagle | 1 troy oz (in a 33.931 g coin) | $4,195.60 | £3,171.03 | ... | ... |
| 100 g bar | 100 g (3.2151 oz) | $13,489.17 | £10,195.10 | ... | ... |
Live columns: Loading. Melt values only, not dealer prices. Sovereign gold content from The Royal Mint (916.67 fine); Eagle weight from the US Mint.
Doing the 18ct chain by hand: 10 g x 0.75 = 7.5 g of pure gold. 7.5 / 31.1035 = 0.2411 troy oz. 0.2411 x $4,195.60 = about $1,011.69. The calculator does exactly this, using the live price.
How much is each karat of gold worth per gram?
Karat (ct in the UK, K in the US) counts how many parts out of 24 are pure gold, so 18ct is 18/24 = 75% gold. UK hallmarks show the same thing in parts per thousand. The UK legal standards for gold are 999, 990, 916.6, 750, 585 and 375 (Assay Offices of Great Britain). Our guides to 24 karat gold and gold hallmarks go into more detail.
| Karat | Purity | Hallmark | Live per gram (USD) | Live per gram (GBP) | 10 Oct 2026 (USD/g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24ct | 99.9% | 999 | ... | ... | $134.76 |
| 22ct | 91.67% | 916 | ... | ... | $123.66 |
| 21ct | 87.5% | 875 (not a UK standard) | ... | ... | $118.03 |
| 18ct | 75% | 750 | ... | ... | $101.17 |
| 14ct | 58.33% | 585 | ... | ... | $78.68 |
| 10ct | 41.67% | 417 (not a UK standard) | ... | ... | $56.21 |
| 9ct | 37.5% | 375 | ... | ... | $50.58 |
Live columns: Loading. Spot-based melt values for the pure gold in one gram of each alloy, not prices a buyer will pay. 10 October figures use spot of $4,195.60 per troy ounce.
Melt value vs what a dealer will pay: how big is the gap?
Melt value is the ceiling, not the offer. A buyer has to cover testing, refining or reselling, and make a profit, so it pays below melt. How far below depends mostly on what you are selling.
Here is a real example. On 10 October 2026 we recorded the prices Hatton Garden Metals, a London dealer, showed for buying and selling two popular UK coins:
| Coin | Melt value | Dealer buys at | Below melt | Dealer sells at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1oz Britannia | £3,171.03 | £3,067.15 | 3.28% | £3,281.19 |
| Sovereign | £746.53 | £720.90 | 3.43% | £767.48 (out of stock at check) |
So the dealer would pay about 96.7% of the Britannia's melt value and sell it for 3.47% above. If you bought a Britannia there and sold it straight back, you would lose £214.04, or 6.5% of what you paid. That round-trip cost is why gold is usually held for years. Use our dealer buyback calculator to work out the round trip on any quote.
Jewellery and scrap are different. Bullion coins and bars are easy for a dealer to resell, so offers sit close to melt. Jewellery usually has to be refined, so buyers tend to offer a smaller share of melt value. We have not measured scrap offers ourselves, so we do not quote a figure. Ask each buyer for its offer as a percentage of melt value in writing, then compare. Our scrap gold calculator handles mixed karats, and the guide to selling scrap gold explains how buyers test and pay.
What can make the calculator result wrong?
- Using kitchen ounces. An ordinary ounce is about 28.35 g, roughly 9% lighter than a troy ounce. Entering kitchen ounces as troy ounces overstates the value.
- Guessing the karat. Mistaking 9ct for 18ct doubles the result. Check the stamp, or read how to tell if gold is real.
- Weighing stones and fittings. Gems, steel springs and other metals add weight but no gold value.
- Using pure weight with an alloy purity. A 1 oz Eagle already holds one troy ounce of pure gold. Enter its full 33.931 g weight with 22K purity, or 1 troy ounce at 24ct, not both.
- Treating melt value as a price. Dealers sell above it and buy below it. For coins, try the coin melt value calculator.
More gold calculators are on the tools page. If you plan to sell, read our guide to selling gold first. This tool is information, not advice, and gold prices can fall as well as rise.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate the value of my gold?
Multiply three things: the weight in troy ounces, the purity as a decimal (0.375 for 9ct, 0.583 for 14K, 0.75 for 18ct) and the spot price per troy ounce. If you weigh in grams, divide by 31.1035 first. The answer is the melt value: what the pure gold inside is worth before any buyer takes a cut.
Will a dealer pay me the melt value?
Usually not. On 10 October 2026, Hatton Garden Metals offered £3,067.15 to buy back a 1oz Britannia whose gold was worth £3,171.03, which is 3.28% below melt value. Bullion coins and bars tend to get the closest offers. Jewellery and scrap usually get less, so ask every buyer for its offer as a percentage of melt value.
How much is 1 gram of gold worth?
One gram of pure gold is worth the spot price per troy ounce divided by 31.1035. On 10 October 2026, with spot at $4,195.60, that was $134.89 per gram (£101.95 in pounds). A gram of 18ct gold is worth 75% of that, and 9ct is worth 37.5%. The karat table on this page shows today's live figures.
What weight unit should I use?
Use what your scale shows: troy ounces, grams or kilograms. A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, which is heavier than the ordinary ounce used for food (about 28.35 grams). If your scale only shows ordinary ounces, convert to grams first with our troy ounce converter. Jewellery is normally weighed in grams.
How do I know the karat of my gold?
Look for a stamp. UK hallmarks show purity in parts per thousand: 375 (9ct), 585 (14ct), 750 (18ct), 916 (22ct), 990 and 999. US and Canadian pieces often say 10K, 14K or 18K. If there is no mark, have it tested by an assay office or jeweller, because guessing the purity can change the value a lot.
Where does the live gold price come from?
This page loads a live spot price from gold-api.com for the currency you choose and shows when it was last updated. The global benchmark is the LBMA Gold Price, set in two auctions each London business day at 10:30 and 15:00. When markets are closed, such as at weekends, the figure stays at the last traded price.
Does the calculator include stones or other metals?
No. It values the gold only. Weigh the item without gemstones if you can, or subtract their weight, because stones are not gold. A steel spring in a clasp or a heavy setting in another metal would otherwise make the result look higher than the real gold value.
Sources
We checked these primary and official sources when writing and fact-checking this page.
- LBMA: Precious metal prices (the LBMA Gold Price benchmark)
- ICE Benchmark Administration: LBMA Gold Price auctions at 10:30 and 15:00 London time
- NIST: Precious metals conversion information (1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 g)
- Assay Offices of Great Britain: Hallmarking guidance notes (gold fineness standards)
- US Mint: American Eagle gold coin specifications (33.931 g, 91.67% gold)
- The Royal Mint: The Sovereign 2027 gold bullion coin (916.67 fine)
- Royal Canadian Mint: 2026 Gold Maple Leaf 1 oz (99.99%, 31.11 g)
- Hatton Garden Metals: 1oz Gold Britannia, selling and buyback prices (checked 10 Oct 2026)
- gold-api.com: live spot price feed used by this page
Not financial advice. GoldVetted provides general information to help you compare options. It is not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Gold prices go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you pay. Check tax rules with the official source or a qualified adviser before you act.