Gold and Silver Calculator
Price gold and silver on separate rows, each with its own weight, unit, quantity and purity, then add the two melts. Silver uses a live price when the feed has one, and a labelled sample price when it does not.
Gold and silver
On this page
Each row is weight times quantity times purity times that metal’s price per gram. Gold purity is the karat divided by 24, or a custom figure. Silver purity is the fineness you pick: 999, 925, 900, 800, or custom. The total is the gold melt plus the silver melt. This is an estimate, not an offer.
Two metals, two prices, one total
Gold and silver do not share a price, and they should not share a purity box. A mixed lot, a gold chain in one tray and sterling forks in another, needs a line for each metal. This calculator starts with one gold row and one silver row. Add more when the lot has more than one karat or more than one silver stamp. Each row carries its own weight, its own unit, and its own quantity. The result adds the gold melt to the silver melt. Removing a row takes that metal out of the total.
Weight can be grams, pennyweight, troy ounces, or regular ounces, chosen on that row. One troy ounce is 31.1035 grams. One pennyweight is 1.555 grams. A kitchen ounce is 28.35 grams and is not the ounce a bullion dealer means. Quantity multiplies the weight before the purity is applied, so two identical chains are twice one chain. Leave a row blank and it adds nothing.
Gold karat on its own row
A gold row uses the karat menu from the other calculators on this site: 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K, 24K, and the rest of the list, or a custom purity. Pure gold in the row is the weight times the karat divided by 24. 24K is treated as 100 percent here. A 14K row is 14/24, which is 58.3 percent. A stamp of 585 is 58.5 percent and is the mark on the metal, not a second formula. Custom purity accepts a percent up to 100, or a fineness above 100 out of 1,000, the same reading used on the dental page.
The gold price is the spot already used across the site, in US dollars per troy ounce, converted into the currency you pick. A typed gold price is labelled Custom and is not overwritten by the next refresh. Reset gold puts the live quote back. The silver row does not use this price.
Silver fineness: 999, 925, 900 and 800
Silver rows are stamped in parts per thousand, not in karat. 999 means 999/1,000, the fine silver used for modern bullion bars and many coins. 925 is sterling. Under the FTC Jewelry Guides, the word sterling on a silver article means 925 parts of silver per thousand. 900 is the fineness of a lot of older coin silver, including the US silver coins struck at 900 fine. 800 is a lower European standard you will see on some older flatware and coinage. Picking one of those four applies exactly that fraction. It does not test the piece.
Custom purity is there when the stamp is something else, such as 958 Britannia silver or a number from an assay. Up to 100 is read as a percent. Above 100 is read as fineness out of 1,000, so 925 typed into the custom box is the same 92.5 percent as the sterling choice. A blank custom box prices nothing. Do not type a gold karat into a silver row. 14 on a silver custom box would be read as 14 percent silver, which is not what 14K means.
The silver price, live or sample
The price feed may include a field called silverUsdPerOz, US dollars per troy ounce of silver, beside the gold fields the rest of the site already uses. When that number arrives, the silver box is labelled Live and the silver rows use it. When the feed has no silver price, the box shows a sample figure labelled Sample. The sample is a stand-in so the arithmetic can be checked. It is not today’s silver price, and the label stays on the badge until a live quote replaces it. You can type over either number. A typed silver price is labelled Custom and stays until you reset silver. Resetting silver does not reset the gold price, and resetting gold does not reset silver.
Both prices are per troy ounce. The calculator divides by 31.1034768 to get a price per gram, then multiplies by the pure metal in the row. A gold row never reads the silver quote, and a silver row never reads the gold quote. The combined line is only the sum of those two melts.
What the total leaves out
A mixed household lot is easier to trust when each purity stays on its own line. A 14K chain and an 18K ring are two gold rows, not an average karat. A sterling tray and a 900-fine coin are two silver rows. The gold subtotal and the silver subtotal stay visible so you can see which metal is carrying the number. If the silver badge still says Sample, the silver subtotal is practice arithmetic on the sample figure. Replace that figure with a live quote, or with the price a dealer showed you, before you treat the silver line as a market value. The gold line is independent and can already be live while silver is still a sample. Changing the currency converts both boxes together, because both prices are stored in US dollars and shown through the same rate.
Stones, enamel, steel knife blades, and weighted candlesticks are not silver, even when the scale counts them. A sterling fork with a stainless blade should be weighed as metal you believe is sterling, not as the whole object. Weighted sterling is a silver skin over cement, and the stamp does not make the cement into 925. The same caution applies to gold plate sitting in a silver lot. Plate belongs on the gold-filled calculator, where the gold is a thin share of the weight, not on a solid-karat row.
The number is melt of the pure metal at the two prices shown. A buyer tests the lot and pays a percentage of melt, or a different price for a coin with collector interest. This page does not invent that percentage. Copy the total, the gold subtotal, and the silver subtotal if you want them in a note. The line under the result says the same thing the other calculators say: this is an estimate of melt value, not an offer.
Gold and Silver Calculator questions
How is the combined total calculated?
Each row is weight times quantity times purity times that metal’s price per gram. Gold rows use the gold price. Silver rows use the silver price. The big number is the sum of the two melts.
What does 925 sterling mean?
Sterling is 925 parts of silver per thousand. The FTC Jewelry Guides use that standard for the word sterling. Choosing 925 applies 92.5 percent. It does not test the spoon.
What are 999, 900 and 800?
They are fineness stamps: parts of silver per thousand. 999 is fine silver. 900 is the fineness of much older coin silver, including US silver coinage. 800 is a lower standard used on some European silver. Pick the stamp you can read.
Can I type a custom silver purity?
Yes. Up to 100 is a percent. Above 100 is fineness out of 1,000, so 958 is Britannia silver at 95.8 percent. Do not type a gold karat into a silver row. A blank custom box adds no value.
Why does the silver price sometimes say Sample?
The price response may include silverUsdPerOz. When that field is present, silver is labelled Live. When it is absent, the box shows an editable sample price labelled Sample. The sample is not today’s quote. A number you type is labelled Custom until you reset silver.
Does quantity apply to both metals?
Quantity applies to its own row. Two gold chains on a gold row are twice the weight of one. The silver row has its own quantity. An empty weight adds nothing.
Does this include buyer payout or collector value?
No. The result is melt of the pure gold plus melt of the pure silver. A buyer’s percentage, and any collector premium on a coin, are not in the total. This is an estimate of melt value, not an offer.