This is the section people actually come for. If you own gold jewellery, or you are about to buy some, what is it really worth, and how much of what you paid could you ever get back?

The short answer: a solid gold piece is worth its metal content at minimum, and the difference between that floor and what you paid is the cost of design, labour and retail. Understanding that gap is the difference between buying jewellery well and buying it badly.

The maths, done once

Here is how to work out the metal floor of any solid gold piece. You need two numbers: the weight in grams and the karat.

Multiply the gram weight of pure gold by the current price per gram and you have the raw metal value. A refiner will pay less than that, because refining costs money and they need a margin, but it tells you the floor you are working from.

What actually holds value

Holds its floor well

Heavy, plain, solid, hallmarked

• Most of the price is metal you can weigh.
• No stones to complicate or devalue a resale.
• A clear karat mark makes the metal content easy to prove.
• Simple forms are easy for any buyer to assess.

Holds almost nothing

Light, plated, filled, unmarked

• Plating is a microscopic layer with no recoverable value.
• Gold filled is thicker but still a layer over base metal.
• No karat mark means no easy way to prove content.
• Very light pieces carry more labour cost than metal cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is my gold jewellery worth?

At minimum, the value of the gold in it: weight in grams multiplied by the karat proportion multiplied by the current gold price, less a refining margin. It may be worth more than that if the maker, the design or the stones carry their own value, but the metal figure is the floor and it is the only part you can calculate yourself.

Will a jeweller pay me the full gold price for my old jewellery?

No. Anyone buying scrap gold pays below the market price, because they carry the cost of testing, refining, and the risk of holding metal whose price moves. The gap varies, so it is worth getting more than one offer and knowing your piece's weight and karat before you walk in.

Is 18K a better investment than 14K?

Per gram, yes, because 18K is 75 percent gold against 58.3 percent. But 18K is softer and shows wear faster, and you pay more up front for the extra metal. If you want metal content, buy by the gram rather than by the karat mark alone.

Does a designer name add resale value to gold jewellery?

Sometimes, but far less often than people hope, and only for a small number of houses with an established secondary market. For most jewellery, including most of what any independent shop sells, the resale reference is the metal, not the name.

Where to next

• Back to the main gold guide