Selling Scrap Gold-10K Gold Ring

In my article, Selling Scrap Gold-A Case Study, I detailed my experience with one of the big scrap gold buyers. You've probably seen their ads on TV "Send us your gold, get a big check back". I did not accept their low-ball bid and got my scrap gold back, a small 10 karat gold ring.

I sold that ring a few days ago to the local coin dealer I mentioned in my previous post for $48 and change. The ring had no special meaning to me (not a family heirloom or keepsake) and I wanted to start a business relationship with this local dealer. So when he offered me 50 percent of the ring's gold value (based on the current spot price of gold), I decided the offer was fair.

Here is how the ring's value was calculated...

At the time of the sale, spot gold was at $890.60 per Troy ounce. The 10k ring weighed in at 5.3 pennyweights which is approximately 26 percent of a Troy ounce (there are 20 pennyweights in a T. ounce). So $890.60 x .26 = $231.55. If the ring had been pure 24K gold, that would have been the gold value of the ring. Since it was only a 10K ring, it's gold content is 41.66 of the total weight (more information on this can be found in my article titled Gold weights & Measures). So $231.55 x .4166 = $96.46. The dealer offered 50 percent of that value which is how I received a little over $48.00.

If you are considering selling your scrap gold in the future, I hope you find this information helpful. Feel free to add a comment if you have a question on any of this. By the way, the dealer will probably receive at least 90 percent (probably more) from a major refiner or about $88.00.