Melt value is what the gold inside an item is worth as metal, ignoring craftsmanship, brand and stones. It is the floor under any price a dealer will offer you, and the number every scrap buyer starts from.
Prices default to 2 September 2026 and can be edited above. For prices that update through the day, and to keep a record of what you own, get the app.
Every gold item has two prices. There is what somebody will pay for it as a piece of jewellery, and there is what the gold in it is worth melted down. The second is the one you can calculate exactly, and it is the one that protects you from a bad offer.
The arithmetic is simple: weight in grams, multiplied by the purity as a fraction, multiplied by the current price per gram of pure gold. An 18K ring weighing 10 grams contains 7.5 grams of pure gold, because 18K is 18 parts gold in 24.
What melt value does not include is workmanship, hallmarks, gemstones or brand. A signed Cartier piece is worth far more than its metal, and a mass-market chain is usually worth close to it. Melt is the floor, not the ceiling.
Buy and sell precious metals regularly? MyGoldWorth keeps your purchase cost, live melt value, inventory and real profit in one place — so the sums above are done for every piece you own, not one at a time.
Get MyGoldWorthNo. Dealers buy below melt so they can make a margin after refining costs, which are real. Sixty to ninety per cent of melt is the usual range depending on quantity and the dealer. Knowing melt tells you which end of that range you are being offered.
Not towards melt value. Weigh the piece, then subtract a sensible estimate for the stones, or have it weighed with the stones removed. A dealer buying for scrap will do exactly that.
Gold trades continuously, so the spot price moves through the day like any traded asset. A quote from this morning may not hold this afternoon, which matters when you are selling.