Gold, silver and platinum

Melt value, with the working shown.

Weight, fineness, a price you can check. Every step on the page, nothing sent anywhere.

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Pendant brooch, c. 1890–1910. Cleveland Museum of Art.

Pendant brooch with a pink tourmaline and a pear-shaped drop, set with diamonds in platinum and gold — Pendant brooch, c. 1890–1910. Cleveland Museum of Art.

Melt value calculator

Weight of the piece

1 dwt = 1.55517384 g. 1 oz t = 31.1034768 g.

What is stamped on it?

Weight that is not metal (stones, pearls, enamel)

Same unit as above. Leave empty if unknown: the result will say it counts everything as metal.

Spot price per troy ounce

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Metal

Needed when a number is used for several metals, such as 900 or 950.

Custom fineness (parts per thousand)

Overrides the stamp. Choose the metal too.

Scale accuracy (± same unit)

Adds a low–high range to the result.

Enter a weight and a stamp to see the sum.

Today's spot price: LBMA precious metal prices, Kitco live gold or your own dealer's quote. This page never contacts a price service.

Not sure what the stamp means?

How the sum works

Metal weight. The weight you enter, minus anything that is not metal.
Fine metal. That weight times the fineness: 14K is 585 parts per thousand, so 0.585.
Price per gram. The price per troy ounce divided by 31.1034768.
Melt value. Fine metal times price per gram. Every step is shown under the result.

Melt value, not an appraisal. It is the floor: what the metal would fetch if melted, before a buyer's margin. It says nothing of stones, age, maker or design. What that means.

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What the stamp and the weight cannot tell you

Melt value is the floor. A Belle Époque brooch or a Fabergé pendant is worth many times its metal, and none of that is in the sum above. The photographs are real museum pieces, to remind you what melt value leaves out: not an appraisal.

Pendant broochc. 1890–1910, pink tourmaline
Pendant, Fabergéc. 1910, amethyst and enamel
Brooch, Ferdinand Hauserc. 1912–13, moonstones and enamel
Broochc. 1850, garnet, pearl and gold

Pendant brooch, c. 1890–1910: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin, 2009.359. CC0 (Open Access). Collection page.
Pendant, House of Fabergé and Albert Holmström, c. 1910: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hiller-Borneman Collection, 2022.114. CC0 (Open Access). Collection page.
Brooch, Ferdinand Hauser, ca. 1912–13: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Dorothy Merksamer Bequest, in honor of Cynthia Hazen Polsky, 1998. CC0 (Open Access). Collection page.
Brooch, ca. 1850: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Estate of Helen E. Foulds, 1959. CC0 (Open Access). Collection page.
Images resized and cropped from the museums' public-domain files. Typeface: Bodoni Moda, SIL Open Font License 1.1, © 2020 The Bodoni Moda Project Authors.

Frequently asked

What is melt value?

Melt value is what the precious metal in a piece would be worth if melted: weight of metal × fineness × spot price. It excludes stones and workmanship, and buyers normally pay less than melt value. It is not an appraisal.

How do I calculate the melt value of gold jewelry?

Weigh the piece, subtract the weight of stones, multiply by the fineness (14K = 0.585, 18K = 0.75) and by the spot price per gram, which is the price per troy ounce divided by 31.1034768.

How many grams is a pennyweight (dwt)?

1 dwt = 1.55517384 g exactly, one twentieth of a troy ounce.

Where do I find today's spot price?

On the LBMA site, a live chart such as Kitco, or your dealer's quote. The calculator here does not fetch prices: type yours in. The pre-filled number is an example, not a live price.

Does a stamp prove what a piece is made of?

No. A stamp states what the piece claims to be; it can be forged or struck on a plated piece. An assay confirms it.