Gold Melt Value Explained: How to Calculate What Your Jewelry Is Worth

What melt value means

Melt value is what an item's precious metal content would be worth if it were melted down and sold as pure metal at the current spot price. It ignores brand, craftsmanship, gemstones, or collector value — it's a pure floor price based on weight and purity. It's the number every gold transaction should be measured against, whether you're buying bullion or selling a broken chain.

The formula

• Find the karat purity: 24k = 99.9% pure, 22k ≈ 91.6%, 18k = 75%, 14k ≈ 58.3%, 10k ≈ 41.7%
• Weigh the item in grams (or troy ounces — 1 troy oz = 31.1035 grams)
• Melt value = weight in grams × purity × current spot price per gram

A worked example

Say you have a 14k gold ring weighing 6 grams, and spot gold is $2,600/oz ($83.60/gram). Melt value = 6g × 0.583 × $83.60 ≈ $292.50. That's the floor — what the raw gold is worth with zero credit for the piece being wearable jewelry, a branded item, or having stones. Any offer meaningfully below that number is a scrap-metal price, not a jewelry price.

Why melt value moves every day

Spot gold price changes constantly during market hours, so melt value isn't a fixed number — it's a moving target tied to the live market. Listings priced against live spot re-price automatically as the market moves; listings with a fixed price can drift meaningfully out of line with melt within days if gold moves. If you're comparing offers, always check what spot price they were calculated against.

Melt value isn't the only number that matters

For scrap and mixed lots, melt value is close to the real ceiling. For branded jewelry, graded coins, and collector pieces, melt value is just the floor — the actual market price can run well above it. Know which category your item falls into before you accept an offer that's only pricing the metal.