How to tell what your gold is worth

The biggest concern most people have about sending their gold off in the post to a gold buying company believe it or not is not whether their items will be lost in the post (you can insure against that) but whether they will actually receive the true value of their gold.

This guide shows you how to estimate the value of your gold before you send it off.

Please bear in mind that the gold buyers are not interested in any gems and will remove them before weighing your piece(s).

Also if you have an item that you think has particular value because it is antique or is a designer piece, you are advised to seek an independent valuation.  The value you’ll get from an online goldbuyer is based on what they’ll get for melting it down

If you have several pieces of jewellery to send off, repeat this process for each item.

1)  Check that your item is real.

The easiest way to check if your gold (or silver or platinum for that matter) is real is to hold it up to a magnet. Real gold is NOT MAGNETIC – even gold that isn’t pure won’t contain enough metallic alloys to be attracted to a magnet. If your item is magnetic, chances are it’s worthless.

2)  Check for hallmarks or stamps.

The only way we can estimate a value before sending off our jewellery is if we know the purity of the gold.  Luckily most gold in the UK is stamped with a hallmark. Make a note of the markings -

This table will show you the purity percentage.

9k       375     37.50%
14k     583     58.33%
18k     750     75.00%
22k     917     91.66%
24k     999     99.90%

If you don’t see any markings you can still send your gold off to have it tested, but this guide will only be able to provide you with a very vague estimate.

3)  Weigh your item (preferably in grammes).
Gold buyers have very accurate scales, the more accurate the scales that you can weigh your item on, the more accurate your estimate will be.  Don’t forget to remove any gems or embellishments that aren’t gold before weighing the item.

4)  Find the current price of Gold (preferably per gram).
Please bear in mind that if the price you get is per ounce, they are talking about a ‘troy ounce’.
A Troy ounce is a unit of measurement used almost exclusively these days in precious metals markets.
The difference between a troy ounce and a regular ounce?
31.103 grammes = 1 Troy Ounce
28.35 grammes = 1 normal everyday imperial ounce

More Cash for Gold Websites >>

Most online gold buyers will show their current prices on their websites.  At the time of writing this they are quoting £22.50/gram.

5)  Grab a calculator!

The most you can expect to receive will be as follows

Weight in grammes  X  Price per Gram  X  Purity Percentage

Example
10grammes x £22.50 x 37.5% (9carat) = £84.38

Please Note:  Some sites may list prices for 9k, 14k etc – in that case just use that figure rather than applying the purity percentage to the pure gold value.

Hopefully this guide will help you decide whether it is worth your while selling your gold, and avoid any surprises when you get your valuation.

If your still undecided about selling gold, why not consider selling your phone

More Cash for Gold Websites >>

Related posts:

1. Selling Gold – Guide to getting the best price
2. Current Price of Gold
3. Scrap Gold Prices

Tags: gold, gold price, gold valuation, sell gold, sell my gold