Best Place to Sell Gold in San Francisco

Many people are unsure how pawn shops determine value, such as for gold jewelry. At Maxferd, we believe in being open and transparent with our customers.

Pure 24K (Karat) gold is traded in dollars per ounce, and there are 28.3495 grams in an ounce.

Jewelry is very seldom made from pure 24K gold. Elements such as copper are typically added to it to give it strength. About 90% of wedding rings in the United States contain 14K gold. It’s only 58.3% pure gold.

Let’s assume the gold price per gram is $60 for 24K gold. For 14K it will be $34.98/g. That means if your ring, excluding diamonds or other stones, weighs 5g its gold content is worth $174.90. But that doesn’t mean a pawn shop can pay you $174.90 for your gold ring.

First of all, pawn shops also need to make money. Secondly, buying gold jewelry poses several risks for pawn shops. Jewelry can take a long time to sell, and the price of gold can drop at any moment. 

In order to mitigate the risks, pawn shops and gold dealers will often send jewelry to be melted down, and factor those costs into their offer. A smelter typically charges up to 30% of the gold value to melt and purify the gold for further use.

Note that not all items made from gold are evaluated only based on the price of gold and gold content. 

For example, rare or collectible gold coins can be worth a lot more. The same applies to the provenance or history of gold jewelry – a ring that belonged to Jacky Kennedy will be worth a lot more than an identical ring that belonged to an unknown person. But a standard gold wedding band typically has no value beyond its gold content.