You found a drawer of old jewellery. Maybe it’s a tangled chain you haven’t worn in years, a ring from a grandparent, or a handful of scrap pieces with broken clasps. Before you take any of it to a buyer, you’re probably asking yourself: how much is my gold worth?
You don’t need to guess. Gold’s value comes down to a simple formula, and once you know your item’s karat and weight, you can work out a close estimate yourself. In this guide, we’ll walk through that formula, run a real example in Canadian dollars using a Toronto price, and explain what a dealer will actually pay you, since it’s rarely the full melt value.
Quick Answer: Your gold’s melt value equals its weight in grams, multiplied by its purity (karat ÷ 24), multiplied by the current gold spot price per gram. A 15-gram, 14-karat chain is worth its weight times 58.3% of the going gold rate, roughly $1,618 CAD at today’s price of $185 per gram.
The 3 Things That Decide What Your Gold Is Worth
Every gold item’s value rests on three factors working together:
Purity (karat) tells you what portion of the metal is actually gold, since jewellery is almost never 100% pure. A higher karat number means more gold and less alloy mixed in.
Weight in grams is the second piece. Gold is priced by weight, usually per gram or per troy ounce. The Royal Canadian Mint, which sets the standard for bullion weights and purity in Canada, uses the troy ounce (31.1 grams) as its benchmark unit for gold. The heavier your piece, the more raw material you’re selling.
Spot price is the live global market price of pure gold, shown here in Canadian dollars. It moves throughout the trading day based on supply, demand, and currency shifts, so the number you see this morning may not match the number this evening.
| Karat | Purity (% gold) | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| 24K | 99.9% | Bullion bars and coins, rarely used in everyday jewellery |
| 22K | 91.6% | Premium and South Asian jewellery |
| 18K | 75.0% | Fine jewellery, engagement rings |
| 14K | 58.3% | Everyday chains and rings, common in North America |
| 10K | 41.7% | Durable everyday jewellery |
How to Calculate Your Gold's Melt Value (With a Toronto Example)
The formula :-
The math behind every gold valuation is the same, whether you’re pricing a ring or a handful of scrap:
Melt value = weight (grams) × (karat ÷ 24) × spot price per gram
The karat divided by 24 gives you the purity as a decimal, since 24 karat is considered pure gold. Multiply that by the item’s weight, then by today’s spot price, and you get the raw value of the gold inside your piece, before anyone’s margin is added. You can also run this through our live gold price page or scrap gold calculator instead of doing it by hand.
Step 1: Find your karat
Look closely at the inside of a ring band or near the clasp of a chain for a small stamp. In North America this usually reads 10K, 14K, 18K, or 22K. Elsewhere you might see a three-digit number instead, like 585 or 750, which refers to parts per thousand of pure gold. If you can’t find a stamp, a dealer can test the piece two ways: an XRF scanner, which is non-destructive and leaves the piece untouched, or an acid test, which is reliable but leaves a small mark on the metal
Step 2: Weigh it in grams
A jewellery scale accurate to a tenth of a gram gives the best result. Weigh the item on its own, since any stones, clasps, or non-gold parts attached to it will throw off your number. If you only have a kitchen scale, it’s fine for a rough estimate, but a proper gram scale will get you closer to the real figure.
Worked example: a 14K gold chain in Toronto
Say you have a 14K gold chain that weighs 15 grams, and the gold spot price today is around $185 CAD per gram of pure gold (this changes daily, so always check a live price before you calculate).
Purity: 14 ÷ 24 = 0.583
Melt value: 15 g × 0.583 × $185 = roughly $1,619 CAD
That’s the value of the gold itself, not what a buyer will actually hand you. Keep reading for that part.
Melt Value vs. What a Dealer Actually Pays
This is where a lot of guides fall short, and it’s the part that matters most. Melt value is a ceiling, not an offer. No legitimate buyer pays you 100% of it, and if someone promises that, treat it as a warning sign.
There’s a real reason for the gap. Once a dealer buys your gold, they still need to test it, refine it back into pure metal, and cover their own operating costs and profit margin. That process costs money and time, and the offer you receive reflects it.
As a rough guide, pawn shops tend to pay somewhere between 50% and 75% of melt value, since they’re often reselling items rather than melting them and need a bigger cushion. A reputable gold refiner or specialized buyer typically pays closer to 85% to 95% of melt value, because they’re set up to process gold efficiently and in volume. Anything advertised above roughly 95% is worth double-checking before you commit.
How Much Is My Gold Chain, Ring, or Scrap Worth?
The formula stays the same no matter what the item looks like, but it helps to know what to watch for with each type.
Chain or necklace: Check whether it’s hollow or solid, since hollow chains weigh less for their size and are worth correspondingly less than a solid chain of the same length.
Ring or wedding band: The karat stamp is usually on the inside of the band. If there are stones set in it, they’ll need to be weighed separately or accounted for, since they don’t count toward the gold value.
Scrap or broken gold: Damaged clasps, single earrings, or bent pieces are still valued purely on their gold content.
Coins and bars: Some coins, especially older or commemorative ones, are worth significantly more than their melt value to collectors. A specialist can tell you if yours carries a collector’s premium before you scrap it. Our scrap gold calculator can also give you a starting estimate for any of these item types.
Mistakes That Cost You Money When Selling Gold
A few common slip-ups can quietly shrink your payout.
Not sorting items by karat first. Some buyers will value a mixed batch at the lowest karat present in the pile, so sort your pieces by karat before you go in.
Mixing gold-plated or gold-filled items with solid gold. Plated pieces have only a thin layer of gold over a base metal and are worth a fraction of solid gold by weight. Look for stamps like GP, GEP, HGE, RGP, or GF, which all indicate plated or filled gold rather than solid.
Weighing a piece with stones, clasps, or other attachments still on it. This inflates the weight you’re quoting yourself, so your estimate ends up too high.
Taking the first offer you get without comparing at least one other buyer. This is one of the easiest ways to leave money on the table.
Is Now a Good Time to Sell?
Gold’s spot price moves throughout each trading day, and the bigger your lot, the more a small swing adds up in real dollars. We won’t try to guess where prices are headed next. Our job is to give you an accurate number for today, not a prediction for tomorrow. If you’re not in a rush, checking the price over a few days can show you whether the market is trending up or holding steady before you decide to sell.
Get a Free, No-Obligation Gold Quote in the GTA
A proper quote means testing and accurately weighing your items, something a home calculation can’t fully replace. We offer free, no-obligation evaluations across the GTA, whether you’d rather walk in with your items or send them by secure, insured mail. Get your free quote and compare it against your own estimate, with no pressure to sell once you have it.
FAQ's
Pure 24K gold trades at the full spot price per gram, while lower karats are worth a proportional share. A 14K item, for example, is worth roughly 58% of the 24K gram price. Prices change throughout the day, so always check a live price before you calculate.
Gram for gram, 18K is worth more than 14K, and 14K is worth more than 10K, since 18K is about 75% pure, 14K is about 58% pure, and 10K is about 42% pure. The higher the karat, the more gold you’re actually being paid for.
No. Refining, testing, and operating costs mean buyers typically pay a percentage of melt value, generally somewhere between 50% and 95% depending on the type of buyer and the item.
Hollow chains have less actual gold content than solid chains of the same length and look, because the interior is empty rather than solid metal. They’re still valued using the same weight-times-purity formula, but their weight, and therefore their value, will be lower than a solid chain would suggest.
