22K Gold Calculator
Price 22K jewelry from its weight. This is the high-karat alloy used for wedding gold across India, the Gulf and much of Southeast Asia.
22K gold value
1 troy oz = 31.1 g · 1 oz = 28.35 g · 1 dwt = 1.555 g
22K · 91.7%
Priced as 22 ÷ 24 (91.7%). The 916 stamp is 91.6%.
Common 22K weights
| Weight | Pure gold | Melt value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 g | 0.917 g | — |
| 5 g | 4.583 g | — |
| 10 g | 9.167 g | — |
| 20 g | 18.333 g | — |
| 50 g | 45.833 g | — |
| 1 oz | 25.987 g | — |
One piece at 22K, using the price above. 1 oz is the regular ounce (28.35 g), not a troy ounce (31.103 g).
Selling? See what buyers may pay for scrap gold.
Related karats
On this page
22K gold is 22 ÷ 24, which is 91.7% gold. The stamp on the metal is usually 916, and 916 is 91.6%. This page prices 22 ÷ 24.
22K is wedding gold, not a Western everyday band
In India, 22K is the traditional purity for bridal sets, bangles, necklaces and many coins that are kept as jewelry. The Gulf and parts of Southeast Asia use it the same way. The color is deep yellow because 91.7% of the weight is gold, and the small alloy share is there so the piece is not as soft as pure gold. Shops in those markets often quote a daily gold rate, then add making charges as a separate line. The rate is close to melt. The making charge is the jeweler’s work. This page is only the gold. It does not know what a shop charged to draw a pattern on a bangle.
That split surprises people who are used to American retail, where a 14K ring’s price is many times its melt and nobody shows you the gold rate. A 22K bangle can be sold, and later bought back, much closer to the gold value, with the making charge lost on the way out. If you are checking a buyback, start with melt on this page, then see what share of melt the shop is offering. The scrap gold calculator is the tool for a typical scrap bid. A jeweler who bought the bangle from you as “old gold” in India may be using a rate and a deduction that you should compare with melt, not with the original retail invoice.
22K is a poor choice for a thin ring that has to survive a factory shift or a gym. It is a good choice when the point of the object is the gold itself and the piece is worn for occasions, or worn thick enough that softness does not matter. Thickness is how 22K bangles survive. They are not delicate 18K shanks.
Deep yellow, and soft enough to dent
Put a 22K bangle next to an 18K chain and the 22K looks fuller in color. There is less copper and silver to dilute the yellow. Rose alloys exist, but the ordinary 22K wedding piece is yellow. White 22K is uncommon. If a white piece is offered as 22K, read the stamp twice. White metal at a high karat is usually 18K with palladium, not 22K.
Softness shows up as dents on the inside of a bangle, as a clasp that bends, and as fine scratches that polish back. A dent does not remove gold. Aggressive polishing does remove a little, over many years. Stones set in 22K need a heavier setting than the same stones in 14K, because the prongs are softer. If the piece is a plain bangle with no stones, the scale weight is the gold weight, which is the easy case. If it is a necklace with lacquer, thread, or a silk cord, those are not gold. Weigh the metal.
Some 22K pieces are intentionally sold by weight at the day’s rate plus a making charge per gram. That practice is why a 22K calculator is worth having separately from a general gold calculator. The karat is locked, so a family member who “knows it’s high quality” cannot nudge the selector from 22 to 24 while changing the weight. 24K is a different product. It is on its own page.
916 is the mark, and it is a hair under 22 ÷ 24
Look on the inside of a bangle, near the joint, and on the clasp or a small soldered plate of a necklace. The mark is “22K”, “22kt”, or “916”. BIS hallmarking in India adds further marks, including a fineness mark. The number that prices the gold is 916 or 22K. The jeweler’s logo is not a purity.
916 parts per thousand is 91.6% gold. Twenty-two divided by 24 is 91.666…%, which this page rounds to 91.7% and uses as the purity. The difference is about 0.7 parts per thousand. On a 20 gram bangle it is a small slice of a gram of pure gold. It is honest to name it, and it is not a reason to price the bangle as 18K or as 24K. A mark you cannot read is not 22K by tradition. Have it tested.
18K items in the same jewelry box, often a gift bought outside that tradition, are stamped 750. Do not average a 916 bangle with a 750 chain into one karat. Price them on their own pages, 18K and this one, or as separate rows on the gold calculator. Quantity on this tool is for two matching 22K bangles, not for mixing karats.
A 20 gram 22K bangle at the live price
A single gold bangle can weigh anything from under 10 grams for a light child’s bangle to well past 30 grams for a heavy bridal one. Twenty grams is a solid adult bangle, the kind that is obviously jewelry and obviously a gold holding. The example prices 20 grams of 22K and sets the same weight beside 18K and 24K.
The worked example uses 20 gram 22K bangle and fills in from the price in the calculator.
If a shop’s buyback is far under that melt figure, you are looking at their deduction, not at a different karat. If their buyback is over melt, they may be treating the piece as resale jewelry rather than as scrap, which is a better outcome and a different market. Melt tells you which of those two conversations you are in. The scrap calculator’s payout ranges describe the scrap conversation.
Scales in this trade are often in grams, which is the default unit here. Pennyweight is 1.55517384 g and is more of an American jeweler’s habit. A troy ounce is 31.1034768 g. A regular ounce is 28.349523125 g. Twenty grams is about 0.64 troy ounce. Do not type 20 into the troy-ounce field.
22K between 18K and pure gold
18K is 75% gold. 24K is priced on this site as 100% gold, because 24 ÷ 24 is 1, even though bars are stamped 999. The same weight of 22K holds 22/18 as much pure gold as 18K, about 22% more, and 22/24 as much as that pure-gold figure, which is 91.7%. You give up a little gold relative to a 24K bar, and you gain enough alloy that a bangle can exist as jewelry.
| Karat | Percent used here | Stamp | Pure gold in 10 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18K | 75% | 750 | 7.50 g |
| 22K | 91.7% | 916 | 9.17 g |
| 24K | 100% | 999 | 10.00 g |
The 24K row is 10.00 grams because this site prices 24K as entirely gold. A bar stamped 999 is 9.99 grams of gold in that same 10 grams. Ten grams of 22K contains 9.17 grams of pure gold. The gap, 0.83 grams of pure gold in every 10 grams of jewelry, is why calling a 916 bangle “pure” flatters the piece. Use this page for 916 and 22K. Use the 24K page for bars.
The gold karat calculator converts 916, 875, 999 or any other fineness when the piece is not actually 22K. 21K, stamped 875, is a traditional Gulf fineness and does not have its own page. Convert it, then price that percent as Custom purity on the gold calculator.
22K Gold Calculator questions
Why is 22K used for wedding gold?
22K is 91.7% gold, so the color stays deep yellow and the piece is mostly the metal people are buying. In India, the Gulf and parts of Southeast Asia, wedding bangles, necklaces and sets are traditionally 22K. Shops there often quote a gold rate and then add making charges, which is a different bill from the melt value on this page.
What does a 916 stamp mean?
916 means 916 parts gold per thousand, or 91.6%. 22 divided by 24 is 91.67%, which this calculator uses and rounds to 91.7%. The gap is about one part per thousand. For a heavy bangle it is a real difference, and it is still small next to the gap between 22K and 18K. If your piece says 916, price it here.
Is 22K too soft for a ring worn every day?
It dents and scratches more than 18K or 14K, because there is less hardening alloy. Many 22K pieces are occasion jewelry, or they are made thicker so the metal can take a knock. A thin 22K band will show wear sooner than a 14K band of the same width. Softness does not change the melt value. It changes whether you want to wear it daily.
Is 22K jewelry the same as a 22K coin?
The purity idea is the same: 22 parts gold out of 24. A coin has a standard weight and a face design, and collectors or bullion buyers may pay a premium over melt. A 22K bangle is sold as jewelry, and as scrap it is worth the gold inside it. This page prices the metal. It does not price a coin’s premium.
How does 22K compare with 24K and 18K?
The same weight of 22K holds 22/24 of the pure gold in 24K, and 22/18 of the pure gold in 18K. That is about 8% less gold than pure, and about 22% more gold than 18K. The worked example on this page fills those three figures from the live price. Color follows the gold: 22K is richer yellow than 18K and a shade less red or coppery than many 18K alloys.
My bangle is stamped 916 but the shop called it 22K. Which page do I use?
Use this one. 916 is the fineness mark for 22 karat gold. Do not put it on the 24K page, and do not type 916 into a karat field that expects 22. If you want to see 916 as a percent, the gold karat calculator converts fineness, karat and percent in one step.