There is a lot to be said about buying gold jewellery. For one thing, you can convert your gold to real cash whenever you find yourself in need of quick cash. Gold prices have been going up and down over the years, but there has never been a bad time to sell gold jewellery.

There is a misconception that scrap gold is of low quality. The word “scrap” does not infer that the quality is inferior or has no value. Gold is highly recyclable. It can be formed into different things like gold coins and jewellery and reformed into gold used in electronics or dental fillings. The recycling of gold has been done since ancient times. The value of scrap gold is based on its content and not its form. So, your old and broken jewellery will still have value.

You can sell gold jewellery to Melbourne Gold Company and get instant cash by taking it to a jeweller, a pawnbroker or a cash for gold dealer. They buy gold based on the spot price as well as weight. What you basically need to know is how much gold you have and what the current spot price is.

Not All Gold Is The Same

You may have heard the saying that not all that glitters is gold, then you should know that not all gold is the same. A lot of gold jewellery is made of alloys. Because gold is so malleable, other metals are added to make it less soft. So in reality, most gold jewellery is not made of pure gold. Gold purity is measured in “Karat” (K). The highest karat of gold is 24 karat, which represents 99.9% purity. The karat of gold used in your jewellery is often inscribed on some part of the piece. It could be on the clasp of a necklace or the inside of your ring. If you have an 18k inscribed ring this means it is made up of 18 parts hold and 6 parts other metal.

You can’t always trust the marking. Some gold is just lead or some other metal plated with gold. To check the purity of your gold jewellery, you can take the gold to a jeweller or pawnbroker or you can check it yourself by performing a simple acid test.

Testing For Gold

You will need a touchstone, some nitric acid and a small file. Rub the jewellery on the stone and apply some nitric acid on the mark left behind. The nitric acid should dissolve everything except the gold. If you have 21k jewellery, then the color of the gold left behind should have a rich yellow hue. If it is bright yellow it is probably 14 or 10 karats. If you can’t find a touchstone you can apply the nitric acid directly on the gold. If it bubbles and turns green or black then it isn’t gold. You may need to use a file to get deeper than the surface if you suspect plating. It might make sense to test your own gold to avoid the disappointment of being turned away for not having real gold to sell. A gold buyer will use the same acid test method to verify the purity of your jewellery. A machine called a densimeter can also be used to determine the purity of your gold jewellery.

Finding Out How Much Your Gold Is Worth

When the purity of your gold is determined it needs to be weighed. Gold is expressed in troy ounces. 1 troy ounce = 31.1grams. Gold buyers often weigh gold grams. One troy ounce = 31.1 grams.  To find out what the spot price of your gold will be, you need to do a little math:

(Weight / 24 x  Karat) X  (Spot price (in troy ounce) / 31.1034768)

So if you have a 21K piece of jewellery that weighs 5 grams and the published price of gold is $1,225 then:

(5 /24 x 21) (1225 / 31.1) = 4.375 x 39.38 = 172.33

The answer is the gold value of your gold in U.S dollars.

The calculation is slightly different when using pennyweights.

It might seem like too much trouble to go through all this math, but it helps to know how much you should expect to get for your gold.

You should keep in mind that gold buyers, pawn brokers and jewellers buying your scrap gold jewellery need to make a profit so you should expect offers that are lower. The price can be 80% to 95% of the spot price depending on who you sell gold jewellery to. You should always shop around for the best price.