Gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals are measured in a few different measurement systems.  It is important to understand the difference between them and how they relate to each other.

For example did you know that there are two types of “ounce” measurements? An uninformed gold seller could easily be taken advantage of by the gold buyer.

When we measure in ounces, it can be in troy ounces or an avoirdupois ounce.  An avoirdupois ounce is actually what most of us know as an ounce that we measure with in our day-to-day lives or what I will call a “common ounce”.

Troy ounces are part of the troy weight system that comes from the Roman monetary system which also includes the troy pound.  Over the years measurement systems were modified and shifted, just as most of the world now uses the metric system instead of imperial system.

But for certain measurements, the troy ounce system has always stayed.  These include gold, silver, platinum and other items such as anything ballistic (gunpowder, arrowheads, etc).

Grams per Troy Ounce Gold
To calculate how many grams in a troy ounce or troy ounces in a gram you need to know the conversion factor:
1 troy ounce (ozt) is equal to 31.103 grams (g)

If you have 6.85 troy ounces of gold, you would have 213.056 grams of gold.

Example
6.85ozt  x  (31.103 g / ozt)  = 213.056 g

Likewise,  1 gram is equal to 0.032 troy ounces(ozt)

If you have 300 grams of gold, you would have 9.645 troy ounces (ozt) of gold.

Example
300 g  x  (0.032 ozt / g )   = 9.645  ozt

Ounce of gold grams (Avoirdupois Ounce or Common Ounce)
Again the common ounce is different than the troy ounce.  It’s conversion factor is:

1 ounce (oz)  =  28.349 grams (g)

If you have 6.85 ounces of gold, you would have 194.191 grams of gold.

Example
6.85oz  x  (28.349 g / oz)  = 194.191 g

Likewise, 1 gram is equal to 0.035 ounces(oz)

If you have 300 grams of gold, you would have 10.58 ounces (oz) of gold.

Example
300 g  x  (0.035 oz / g )   = 10.582  oz

As you can see above the difference between a troy ounce and an avoirdupois ounce is approximately 3 grams.

If you are trying to sell your gold jewelry / gold bullion and did not realize that there were two types of measurement systems, an unscrupulous gold buyer could take advantage of the you and pay you out at a lower rate.

The gold buyer that I use breaks down their prices in all systems of measurement.  These include grams, pennyweight, troy ounce, and avoirdupois ounce.  They also break the payout pricing down into what carat the gold is.

Quite nice! When I found them it was nice to know that some gold buyers want to play fair.To see their prices click here.

Many people have asked the question, “What is price of gold per pennyweight?”

This is an important question if you want figure out the value of scrap gold that you own that is currently measured in pennyweight. Since most gold buying websites do not show the price of gold in pennyweight the questions that we need to answer are:

“How many gold pennyweights in a troy ounce?” and
“How do I convert pennyweight to grams so I know how much gold I have?”

Firstly, let’s define pennyweight. What is a pennyweight in the first place?

The dictionary definition of pennyweight in Wikipedia is:

“A pennyweight (abbreviated dwt) is a unit of mass that is equal to 24 grains, 1/240 of a troy pound, 1/20 of a troy ounce, approximately 0.054875 avoirdupois ounce and approximately 1.555 grams.”

OK. So to most people the above definition REALLY doesn’t mean too much. How does that help you figure out how many grams or troy ounces of gold you have instead of it in pennyweight?

Pennyweight to Grams

In the above definition of pennyweight is says,”1 pennyweight is = to 1.555 grams.” If you had 5.65 pennyweight of gold that would equal 8.785 grams of gold.

Example
5.65 dwt x 1.55 grams / dwt = 8.7575 grams (round to 8.758 grams)

Did you know that Google has a great built in conversion tool. If you type, “5.65 pennyweight to gram” the above answer will appear at the top of the search results.

Pennyweight to Ounce

Going back to the above Wikipedia definition of pennyweight it is says, “ 1 pennyweight is = 1/20 of a troy ounce.” As with the above example, if you had 5.65 pennyweight of gold that would equal 0.283 troy ounces of gold.

Example
5.65 dwt x 0.05 troy ounce / dwt = 0.2825 troy ounces (round to 0.283)

(Note: 1/20 troy ounce = 0.05 troy ounce)

Again, if you type “5.65 pennyweight to troy ounce” the above answer in Google will appear at the top of the search results.

Now if you put “ounce” instead of “troy ounce” a different number will appear. Ounces we use in household measurements is different than troy ounces.

How Much is My Gold Worth?

As you now know what your gold weighs in grams or troy ounces you can look at the various online gold buying websites to determine what the gold buyers are buying your carat of gold for.

If you are selling your gold, click here for a great precious metal buyer that shows what they pay in pennyweight(wt). Most seller do not show their payouts in pennyweight(wt). They also rent scales out for free. I have NEVER found anyone else that does this. All you have to do is put up a small refundable deposit. Click above for more information on scale rental also.

This is a common question that many people have when they are trying to sell their gold, silver, platinum, or other precious metal. I believe that people ask this question because they want to just naturally TRUST a gold buyer, but inside they know that there are trustworthy ones and not so trustworthy ones. I know that may people turned to online gold selling for just that reason since they feel they cannot trust pawn shops.

So how do you find a trustworthy gold buyer? After you have made a list of 5 buyers of gold, do some research on them using the internet. Check to see if there is any positive or negative news on them. You can do this by taking the name of the company and putting it in google news search. Make sure you put brackets around it the name. For example:

“Selling Gold Tips.com”

Are their any really negative news stories of the company that you plan to use? Make notes as you investigate and read the articles and news clips. Remember, you want to sell your gold scrap to buyers of gold that you can trust and give you fair value for your gold, silver, and other precious metal.

What are others saying on the “Selling Scrap Gold” blogs about the company(s) that you are thinking of using? If there are many complaints about one gold buyer and praise from another that should send a red flag for you to think about something.

If they are gold bullion buyers, or any gold buyer for that matter, look at their website to see what they pay out for each type of gold, silver, and other precious metal that they accept. Compare them to each other. They should be close to each other. If they don’t list them, what do they have to hide?

Check out my article, “Top 10 Questions to Ask The Gold Buyer Before Selecting Them“. These are top 10 questions that gold sellers do not ask their perspective gold buyer before sending their precious metals off to someone they really do not know.

Many people have been asking me specific questions about gold and selling gold since I started my website.  Do you remember what your mother said?  ”Ask and you shall receive!”.

Well OK, maybe your mom did not say that, but ask a question and I’ll answer it and put it into the new  ”QUESTIONS” department.

Gold purity is expressed in karat or fineness measurements.  Karat measurement is mostly used in USA and Canada and fineness measurements are used mostly in Europe.

The short form of karat that you will see on jewelry and other gold item is the symbol “kt”.

Karat(kt) measurement goes way back to the roman times and is measures on a scale of 24.  Therefore if you have 24kt gold you would have pure gold.

Fineness measurements are based on a percentage value of the purity.  Since karat has been around for such a long time the fineness measurements will always relate back to a karat number.  For example you would be hard pressed to find a fineness value of 500.

Below are most common karat and finesses values:

• 24 karat gold (fineness 999)
• 22 karat gold (fineness 916)
• 20 karat gold (fineness 833)
• 18 karat gold (fineness 750)
• 15 karat gold (fineness 625)
• 14 karat gold (fineness 585)
• 10 karat gold (fineness 417)
• 9 karat gold (fineness 375)
• 8 karat gold (fineness 333)

To your gold selling success…

Chris Lajeunesse

It is an interesting question as it throws quite a few people off since karat(purity) is legitimately spelled with a “C”(Carat) making the word exactly the same as used for measuring gem stones.  But since most of the audience is in USA I will spell it with a “K” (Karat) on this website.

When it comes to the purity of gold it is measured in karat purity.  The shortened version is shown as kt.  This is expressed in a system of 24, 24kt being pure gold or 100% pure.

Where people get confused is that gem stones such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, including many others are measures in a system of carat weight.  Carat weight is a system of very small values so it lends itself to gem stones.  For example a stone with 1.00 carat weigh equal 0.2 grams.  Now 0.2 grams does not seem like much but if my wife had a 1.00 carat diamond she would be very happy!

So this can be confusing but the best way I taught myself to remember was that gem stones are always pure and are never diluted and to measure them you would want to know the weight of them which would give you the value.

For gold, you want to know the purity (in karats) and the weight (in grams or sometimes troy ounces) to understand how much you have.

Another way I remember is it comes down to what people really want to know most about gem stones VS gold.  For gem stones people want know how big the stone is(and then clarity) and for gold people want to know how pure it is (then how much).

To your gold selling success…

Chris Lajeunesse

One of the questions that was asked through my website www.sellinggoldtips.com was, “Do gold buyers pay more for the antique value of the gold item sent in?”

The answer is gold buyers generally do not pay more for the antique value to people selling old gold jewelry.  The reason for this is that 95% of all gold buyers are interested in the “the material gold value” of the pieces that are sent in and are not concerned with the artistic or “personal / emotional” value of the pieces.

If the gold pieces were sent into a gold buyer, they would determine what they believed the value was worth, then mark the price down, and then send the seller a check in the mail.  Approximately 10 days after the check is sent, the gold items are put together with many other pieces and are melted down and purified to 100% gold(24 carat) and then resold as pure gold back into the gold selling market.

People that would buy this gold would be goldsmiths and jewelry makers, industrial companies (semiconductor, electronics, etc), and bullion coin and bar makers to name a few.

So as you can see, the majority of the gold buyers are not looking at the gold items for their resale value but their scrap value.  This is also the reason why the price of the gold item will most probably be lower than an appraised value of the piece.

“Then what affects the price of selling my unwanted gold?” you ask.  3 factors.  They are:

• Gold purity (carat)
• Weight
• Daily gold market price

To learn more about above 3 factors, see my up and coming blog post that will explain all 3 factors.

So ask your question where I will answer it in the blog so that everyone selling their gold can do it to get the maximum amount of profit for their gold.

To your gold selling success…

Chris Lajeunesse

Hello,

I’m Chris Lajeunesse and I have just created a new blog called, “Selling Gold Tips.com”

The reason that I decided to create this blog was that I had looked on the internet to sell some gold jewelry and had noticed there were many companies offering to buy used gold and old gold jewelry.  But one thing I noticed was that many of these people were making outrageous claims.

This started to make me think.  Maybe there are more people out there that are worried about their gold that they are planning to send in?  After doing some research I noticed that lots of  people have many complaints and concerns.

So I intend to help people by getting to the truth and the facts of how to sell gold jewelry to online or TV based gold sellers.

To your success.

Chris Lajeunesse