Expert: Thomas - 6/5/2007

Question
How much gold is in a 14kt bracelet. Can I weigh it and compare it to the market prices

Answer
David, yes you can compare jewelry to the market prices.

By comparing the gold content of a jewelry item to the market price do you mean in comparison to the spot price of pure gold?  That is about the only way to compare and get a decent answer.  Otherwise, you are just comparing the price of one jewelry item with the price of another, based on weight.

To compare to market price (spot or pure gold market price) to any jewelry item, all you need to do is know the karat and what that karat means.  Karat means how much pure gold is in a specific karat of gold.  For instance, 14k gold is  the same as 14 parts gold compared to the 24 karat standard of pure gold.   This gives us  14/24 = .583.   This tells you that strictly speaking, 14k gold is 0.583 or 58.3 % pure gold with the rest being other metals, mostly silver and copper.   

Don’t use the 0.583 number!  Due to manufacturer conventions, most 14k gold is actually stamped 585.   So, 585 is an accepted stamp for 14k gold as well as the mark “14k”.  In the marketplace, both mean the same thing.   18k is  18/24 = .750, meaning 18k gold jewelry is 0.750 pure gold in the metal mix, or 75% pure gold.


HOW TO DO THE FIGURING.

Pick a unit of measurement of the weight.  Two different scales are used for gold. The accepted unit for manufacturers and purchasers is the Pennyweight.   The other scale is Gram weight. Either will work.   One ounce of gold is measured in Troy ounces, slightly different from the ounces we are familiar with.  I will show the differences later on.   

One troy ounce is 20 pennyweight, commonly shown as the abbreviation dwt.  One troy ounce is 20 dwt.

In grams, one troy ounce is 31.1 grams.   Sellers in mall kiosks often like to use grams since there are more grams in an ounce than there are dwt.  This makes the weight seem like a higher number but it is really the same, only a scale with more numbers in it is being used.

Take the current price on the spot market(easily found on the net).  Today the gold price for one ounce was $675.       Since one ounce is  20 dwt, this means one dwt of pure gold is:  $675/20 =  $33.75      In grams, since one ounce is 31.1 grams,  1 ounce/ 31.1 = $21.70 per gram.

Weigh your jewelry.  Lets say it weighs 7 dwt.  It is 14k.     7 dwt of 14k gold means only 0.585 of it is pure gold in the metal mix.      7 dwt x 0.585 =  4.095 dwt.   That 4.095 is how much pure gold is in the jewelry.    

With gold selling today at $33.75 per dwt., you have 4.095 dwt.    $33.75 x 4.095 = $138.21.   That is the spot market value of the gold in the item.


IS IT REASONABLE TO COMPARE SPOT PRICES WITH THAT OF A FINISHED PRODUCT?

Actually, no it is not.   The maker must purchase the pure gold, then make the alloy(metal mix for jewelry), then form the metal into the jewelry item, then resell this to the retailer.  Lots of costs are involved along the way.  Still, you can see how much you are paying for “the gold” in  a particular item compared to a similar  item at another seller.    It is easier to do that by simply comparing weights of the two items and dividing the weight into the price.  That will tell you how much each  is costing you per unit of weight but not the actual price in pure gold.

If you plan to purchase an item, compare much more than weight. We do not purchase cars by weight or houses by weight.  We purchase food often by weight but still compare quality!  One may be way overpriced considering the quality compared to another.  Quality is not to be dismissed, especially with the flood of lower quality jewelry on the marketplace today.

Ok, that is the answer.  Sorry if the math and numbers might be confusing.  Perhaps you think math and nothing is confusing at all.  That would be nice.


Let me know if you need more info.

God Bless and Peace.  Thomas.       06/05/2007 7:49 PM