Gold Guides
Practical, in-depth guides written for people buying or selling gold. Each one links to the live prices and calculators you need to act on it.
In-depth guides
- How Much Is Scrap Gold Worth?Scrap gold is worth its weight in grams × its purity × the live spot price per gram — that number is the melt value.
- How Pawnshops Price GoldA pawnshop prices gold by testing the karat, weighing it in grams or pennyweight, calculating melt value from the live spot price and then offering a percentage of that — usually 50–70 % to buy and 25–60 % as a loan.
- Gold Hallmarks ExplainedA gold hallmark tells you the minimum purity of the metal: 585 means 58.5 % gold (14k), 750 means 75 % (18k), 916 means 91.6 % (22k) and 999 means 99.9 % (24k).
- Gold Karats and Purity ExplainedKarat measures how many of 24 parts are pure gold: 24k is 99.9 % gold, 22k is 91.6 %, 18k is 75 %, 14k is 58.5 % and 10k is 41.7 %.
- Why Does the Gold Price Change?The gold price moves mainly with real interest rates and the US dollar: when inflation-adjusted yields or the dollar fall, gold usually rises.
- Gold vs Silver: Which Is the Better Investment?Gold is the better store of value — it's less volatile, cheaper to store and VAT-exempt as investment bullion in the EU and UK.