Any Gold experts/buyers out there.I have a 14 inch long,14 karat,rose gold chain I'd like to sell and don't know how to price it.It is marked"585" which according to my research is 14 karat.As near as I can calculate it weighs 17.01 grams.Any help would be deeply appreciated.Thanks.Norm

Here are some pictures.The locket and pocket clip look gold but are not marked they are not included in 17.01 weight.Thanks.Norm

# 2

#3

#4

#5

#6

I'm no expert, but the present price of gold today is roughly $30 per Gram for 14 K. That's actual melt, and I have found it's difficult to sell for any more than that. Actually, it is often hard to get that. Probably the reason these things get melted as the high cost of gold makes it hard to justify any premium over melt.

If your chain is solid 14K it's worth around $500.

Norman:

I cannot tell you how to price your chain but can give you some facts about it.

As I type this gold is at $1621.20. 14k being .585 gives you a gold value of $948.40. (that would be $1621.20 x .585 = $948.40.

A troy ounce is composed of 31.1 grams, so you divide the $848.40 by 31.1, which gives you $30.50
gold value per gram.

$30.50 times your weight of 17.01 grams comes to $518.72, which is the actual melt value of your chain.

In real life absolutely no one pays full melt for gold. An honest scrap dealer that handles volume amounts should pay 90% of melt, but those are few and far between. Your jeweler should offer you at least 80% for your chain, but there are other buyers who would offer as low as 60%, trying to take advantage of those lacking knowledge in the market.

Now, if you were to go into a retail jewelry store to purchase a chain like that, or any other form of newly manufactured gold, i.e., earrings, bracelets, chains, cufflinks, rings, money clips, etc., I feel very confident in estimating that the retail price for any of those items would be at least $100 to $125 per gram, plus tax, of course.

All of that being said you now know what you are up against when selling unwanted gold.

You can also go to the thread 'Save it From the Scrapper', and see some of the gold items that have been sold within the last 6 months at or near the same methods of pricing.

Trust that opens your eyes and helps you place a realistic sale price on your chain.

I would just like to add to Martins excellent explanation, that it has been to my cost many times once you melt the chain/gold and the assy come back (some charge flat $30+ assy fee) you find out there are impurities, solder, springs in the clasps, dirt, and that item weight would soon be diminished further, from past experience for me to go to a reputable refiners I lose the best part of a days work burn near 20 gal of gas in doing so plus expenses, one mistake can ruin your day and you never know which it was all you have is a paper with weight/purity and payment it’s a stressful time waiting for the outcome. So on small quantity like this being able to go to a local store and get 60-80%+ is a good deal for individuals, people see the gold values online and do some simple sums expect 100%+ anything less they seem to think is pure profit the greedy buyer with all his overheads, shop, employees, insurance etc is taking, but forget or don’t understand it’s not a simple transition from old gold to cash after all that the official trader also has to pay tax on any profits as income another hidden bite.!... This is the reasons I tend not to buy gold for profit, I do on occasion buy from customers to resolve a problem but it not really worth doing personally.

Thanks everyone for your input.This chain is too nice to sell for scrap and will not be sold for scrap.If times weren't so bad I'd not sell it.I'm 73 on social security and never enough to go around.Thought it would be a way to raise a little cash.I may put it on "Save From The Scrapper.Thanks again.Norm

Norm, “save it from the scrappers” is the best place no fees, ebay worries, and you may find someone who actually wants a nice chain, as Martin said in the store this would be 3-4 time value, sad thing is that people give little regard to the item once gold is involved, a well-covered subject in our discussions, people pay $2-300+ for a nice GF case but want solid gold cases less than melt value with no regard to the case and will fight all the way on the weight of the case and springs.

To Martin Wagner

Hello Martin;

I just wanted to pipe in here and say thank you for explaing all that "stuff" about how to calculate the value of gold. I never knew much about that "how to" and I now have a far better understanding of how it's calculated. That in itself was a fine lesson learned for me today.

So, thank you Martin, I really appreciate you explaing it to Norm, (and now me)

Regards

Bud

One more thing that I must add about sending scrap gold to be refined and waiting for a price offered.

Chris made good points about not knowing about certain deductions from your sent in weight, such as solder, dirt and other metals used for springs, etc.

There is one more thing that you may have to take into account when receiving your refinery quote, and that is the karat you believe that you may have sent in.

Up until 1976 much of the 14k gold jewelry imported into the U.S., as well a some things fabricated over here, were in reality 13.5k. The biggest supplier of foreign gold to us before that time was Italy.

In 1976 the U.S. government passed a law which required all gold to be "plumb", which meant that 14k gold had to be 14k, not 13.5k. Today you will see some newly fabricated gold items marked 14kp, the 'p' guaranteeing the karat content.

Now you may ask "what the big deal about 1/2 karat"? The big deal is that 1/2 karat is approximately 2%+ of the total gold content, and therefore the melt value.

So just be prepared for a possible shock when receiving settlement from even a very reputable refiner.

If a foreign, or even U.S., maker of gold jewelry imported into the states is fudging on 2% they are making an illegal bundle of $$$. For example if you can undercut 1/2k on a $250.000 order to one of the big jewelry chains over here like Kay Jewelers you would be $5000 ahead of the game immediately.

Just something to think about.

Marty

If any one is interested I put up for sale in "Save It From The Scrapper".Thanks.Norm