You have a 14-karat gold necklace, but you don’t know how much it is worth? Below, we have outlined some tips and guidelines that will help you find out the value of your 14K necklace.
What Determines the Value of a Gold Necklace?
The value of a gold necklace depends on a variety of factors. A new necklace will sell for a price that reflects its design, brand, structure, materials, among other characteristics.
If you are going to sell your 14K necklace for scrap gold, however, its value will be determined based on one major factor – the gold content of the piece.
How to Find Out the Value of the Gold in Your Jewelry
To figure out the value of a piece of gold jewelry, you need to determine how much the pure gold in it is worth, and this value depends on the precious metal’s price on the market.
The market price of gold changes every day, and you can look it up on a variety of websites.
Keep in mind that the gold price quoted on commodity exchanges does not reflect accurately the money you could get for your jewelry if you decide to sell it.
To get a better estimate of the value of your gold, you can reduce its current market price by about 20%-30%.
The result will be the approximate price you can expect gold dealers to pay – most of them will usually offer you about 80% of the market price of gold per gram.
Click here to check out the prices for some of the newest and most popular 14K gold necklaces.
How to Determine the Amount of Pure Gold in a 14K Necklace
Knowing how much money you can get for the pure gold in your jewelry per unit of weight, now you need to find the answer to another important question: How much gold does your 14K necklace actually contain?
How Much Pure Gold Does 14K Jewelry Contain?
14 karats gold purity implies that if the total weight of the gold alloy is assumed to be 24 parts, 14 parts of it is pure gold and 10 parts is other metals.
From the above, it follows that the pure gold in your 14K gold necklace is 58.3% (14 divided by 24).
More: Check out this extensive selection of gold necklaces (click here for men’s gold necklaces).
Determining the Total Weight of Your Gold Necklace
To find the absolute amount of pure gold in your necklace, you will need to weigh it.
Before you do that, don’t forget to remove any stones so as not to artificially inflate the calculated weight of the gold alloy in the piece.
Weigh your necklace on a scale, and record the weight in grams or ounces.
If you need to convert the weight into troy ounces, remember that 1 gram is equal to 0.03215 troy ounces, and 1 ounce equals 0.91146 troy ounces.
Some jewelers also use pennyweights as units of measurement, so you should know that 1 troy ounce is equal to 20 pennyweights (abbreviated as “dwt”).
Determining the Weight of Pure Gold in a 14K Necklace
After you’ve determined the total weight of your 14K necklace, you can find out the weight of the pure gold in it.
Simply multiply the necklace’s weight by its gold content percentage, which we already calculated to be 58.3%.
For example, if you have determined that your necklace weighs 8 grams, then the pure gold in it will be 58.3% of that number, or about 4.7 grams.
Where to Buy a Gold Chain?
If you’re looking to buy a gold chain, we recommend that you check out the great selection of chains available at Amazon.
Selling your jewelry? Get a free price quote here.
Find sterling silver, gold, and platinum necklaces in exceptionally crafted styles including beautiful chains, fashion pendants, and giftable lockets at Blue Nile Jewelry