Gold Buying Demystified

Master Jewelers has been providing the service of gold and precious metal buying to our customers since 1987.  With the dramatic increase in gold prices, this service has grown from our visiting the refinery twice a year to nearly every week.

Each morning, we take a look at what an ounce of pure gold is trading at.  Then, we figure out what we will pay for each karat per Pennyweight (DWT) that day, which involves not only accounting for the different percentages of gold and alloys, but also the refining costs of breaking down the metal in order to bring the gold back to a pure state.  See charts below for more information on gold content and units of weight.

Karat Gold Chart

24k Gold = 100% Gold
22k Gold = 91.7% Gold; 8.3% Alloy
18k Gold = 75% Gold; 25% Alloy
14k Gold = 58.5% Gold; 41.5% Alloy
10k Gold = 41.7%; 58.3% Alloy

Weight Conversions

1 Troy Ounce (oz t) = 20 Pennyweights (DWT)
1 Troy Ounce = 31.103 Grams (g)
1 Pennyweight = 1.555 Grams
1 Gram = 0.642 Pennyweight

Example Buy:

A client brings in an old yellow gold wedding band and broken gold chain.  After testing the metal, we discover that the wedding band is 14k gold and the chain is 10k gold.  We then weigh the pieces in front of the customer and find that the wedding band weighs 7.4DWT and the chain weighs 10.7DWT.   On this particular day, each DWT of 14k gold will be bought for $17.48 and each DWT of 10k gold will be bought for $12.40.  We will then write a check to this customer for $262.03 ($129.35 for the wedding band plus $132.68 for the chain).

The entire process only takes a short amount of time and no appointment is necessary!